Construction works for the proposed new Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret town will start soon.
According to the MTRH Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Wilson Aruasa, the new hospital will occupy a 200-acre piece of land that is located in Kiplombe a few kilometres from the Eldoret town centre.
“There have been serious efforts to try and realize this project in the past but each time there was a difficulty in getting guarantees on financing,” Dr Aruasa said.
Once complete, the new facility will have a capacity of about 2,000 beds. It is estimated that the national government will use Ksh35 billion on the project.
The MTRH boss further said construction works for the project had been delayed due to inadequate finances and a long-standing legal battle between MTRH and the Kenya Prison Service over the ownership of the land that had been set aside for the project.
The new hospital will have an emergency department, outpatient clinics, wards, an alcoholic and drug abuse rehabilitation unit, an isolation facility, supplies and other commodity management logistics that will cost between Ksh18 million and Ksh20 million.
Project approved
“The staff housing and students hostels can be done by the government through the affordable housing scheme,” Dr Aruasa noted.
He further revealed that they have already received approvals from the MTRH board, the Ministry of Health, the National Treasury and the Attorney General.
“This is a project that is justified and if compared to any other hospital that has been built recently, its cost is lower,” noted the MTRH boss.
The project has already been rejected by a section of politicians allied with the opposition.
National Assembly leader of the minority Opiyo Wandayi recently claimed the project had not been given a green light as required by law.
“It is plain wrong to give the North Rift another high calibre hospital in addition to the poorly managed Moi Teaching and Referral hospital while other regions are struggling to get level 5 hospitals,” the Ugunja MP said in a statement.
He also demanded that the project is suspended until questions surrounding it are adequately answered.
