Kenyan Gov’t Sets up 100-Bed Capacity Covid-19 Isolation Center Exclusively for Healthcare Workers

Kenya’s Health Ministry has set up a 100-bed capacity isolation and treatment center to exclusively accommodate healthcare workers who contract Covid-19 in the line of duty. 

Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said the facility is based at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and will offer both critical and basic care to health workers. The treatment of healthcare workers in this facility will be paid for by the government.

The special facility was set up in partnership with Rockefeller Foundation and AMREF Health Africa.

“Our success on treatment is highly dependent on our ability to protect our frontline healthcare workers and heroes in this fight,” said Kagwe in a media briefing on Monday.

Kagwe further disclosed that the ministry has so far distributed to health workers 4,759 complete Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) kits and 237,047 assorted components—goggles, surgical masks, N95 masks, gloves, gowns, rubber boots, and shoe covers.

“We have also trained 30,000 healthcare workers and training is still ongoing. The target is to re-sensitize 100,000 more in the next few weeks,” he said.

A doctor was among two patients who were discharged from the hospital on Monday after recovering from Covid-19, raising the total number of recoveries to 69. The number of infections rose to 281 while the death toll from the virus remained at 14.