County unveils modern ICU ward at Nanyuki Referral Hospital

Laikipia County department of Health has unveiled a ultra modern Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ward at the Nanyuki Teaching and Referral Hospital.

The unit will not only cater for Covid-19 patients but also handle any emergency services that require critical care.

The newly refurbished critical care unit consists of six ICU and 12 High Dependence Unit (HDU) beds.

The ICU ward has already been installed with five ventilator machines which cost the County Government Ksh 35 million.

Speaking after inspecting the facility, Governor Ndiritu Muriithi said his administration will inject another Ksh 35 million for the purchase and installation of ventilator machines at the Nyahururu County Hospital.

In terms of preparedness for Covid-19, the County expectation is to have a 10-bed ICU capacity in Laikipia as well as well trained health workers.

The critical care unit is expected to have 18 nurses per day to ensure that patients are comfortable.

Apart from the five ventilator machines, the ICU unit consists of syringe pumps, pulse oximeters, multipurpose patient monitors, suction machines, infusion pumps and defibrators.

The County Chief said that the vocational training centres at Nanyuki and Nyahururu have been supplying 40 beds per week to the Nanyuki ASK ground isolation centre.

The County is targeting to have 328 bed capacity at the isolation center so as to boost the fight against Corona virus.

So far, the facility has three patients at the centre who are recuperating.

Muriithi has admitted that the county lacks a Covid-19 testing facility but assured that they will come up with one soon through collaboration with the National government.

He however thanked all people entering and leaving Laikipia borders for cooperating during testing saying that the data will be used for contact tracing in case a person tests positive.