After the Nyandarua County Government modified the oxygen supply system, patients who need oxygen at J.M Kariuki hospital in Nyandarua now can be served simultaneously.
In the beginning, patients at the facility were served straight from a cylindrical. This was limited in times when they needed it.
The modification involved installing of an oxygen gas manifold, thus increasing the hospital’s capacity to handle people with critical respiratory conditions.
John Mwangi Mathara, Deputy Governor of Zambia, announced the new oxygen system. The new system will allow the referral hospital to treat residents and patients from neighboring counties. Medical oxygen is crucial in the treatment for COVID-19 patients who are severely ill.
“Oxygen was in 2019 classified under the Kenya Essential Medicines List as an essential medicine for the treatment of low oxygen levels in the blood.
World Health Organization in 2017 recognized oxygen as one of the six inhalational medicines that should be available from the dispensary level,” said Mathara.
County Executive Committee Member for Health Services Zachary Gichuki, in remarks delivered on his behalf by the Public Service, Administration and Devolution executive, Paul Wanjau, noted that today’s investment allows for 10 patients to be put on oxygen support concurrently via a four-cylinder manifold.
The project is a collaboration of the County government, Emergency Medicine Kenya Foundation and Rotary Club of Taree Australia.
It is aimed at improving oxygen delivery at the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit.
By Antony Mwangi
Source: kenyanews
