President William Ruto on Wednesday commissioned Sh 3.5 billion AAR hospital in Nairobi aimed towards boosting patient care – by improving access to specialised services and making it easier for locals to get the care they need.
According to Ruto,the opening of AAR hospital-a ultra modern facility which represents a monumental investment by the AAR group-is important as it signals that Kenya is roaring into action interms of attarcting calibre of investment that is expected to turn kenya’s healthcare sector into a leading pack of globally competetive medical services destinations.
“Kenya is committed to the active promotion of a healthcare system that is robustly attentive to preventive and curative healthcare,” President Ruto said.
He added that, “in order to adequately satisfy broad spectrum of the health needs and serve diverse needs of patients from various socioeconomic backgrounds, our healthcare ecosystem must itself posses a rich mix of varried service providers.”
Ruto reiterated that the new state-of-the-art hospital, will be providing compassionate and people centred care and exceptional services to the community in Nairobi and countrywide through refferals in an effort to ensure that citizens are able to have access to quality healthcare.
“Our vision for this sector is to enhance the well-being of every citizen inorder to make them live longer happier and more productive, he said adding that,”such investments helps us to achieve a critical objective of saving the country more than Shs 10billion that kenyans spend annually seeking treatments abroad.”
The hospital was funded by several international investors, namely the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group, International Fund for Health in Africa (IFHA- Netherlands), SwedFund, FinnFund, Investeringsfonden for udviklingslande (IFU-Denmark) and Promotion et Participation pour la Coopération Économique (PROPARCO-France).
It began its operation in July 2021 with a capacity of 140 beds, four operating theatres, and a 12-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
It also has a nine-bed High Dependency Unit (HDU) and a modern neonatal ICU. neonatal care unit and outpatient and specialist spaces for treatments such as dialysis.
The renal unit has 10 beds with the capacity to dialyse 40 patients in a day.
The facility will also provides genetic counselling and support for would-be parents who want to assess the risk of passing an inherited condition such as sickle cell to their children.
The facility is managed through Hospital Holdings Investment (HHI).
While, Steve Okeyo, Group Chief Executive Officer, Hospital Holdings Investment (HHI) said that AAR is committed to putting up additional modern hospitals and clinics in various parts of the country and throughout East Africa in the coming years.
He said that the hospital currently serves 200 patients a day and employs 180 people. At full capacity, we aim to serve more than 400 patients a day and to have more than 300 members of staff.
AAR Group was started by its founders Bengt Beckmann and his wife Maryjka as Africa Air Rescue Company.
Ruto On Charm Offensive To Woo healthcare Investors
President william Ruto affirmed that Kenya is commited to refining and repackaging incentives to attract more healthcare investors in the country and lower the cost of medicines and medical commodities.
Speaking during AAR hospital launch,he said that his government will intensify and sustain its commitment to improving Kenya’s economic competitiveness.
“It is critical that all our partners understand that Kenya is a free market economy that is democratic and that nobody is going to take advantage of their investment,” he said.
He said that the government will ensure that there is a highly attractive investment space so that their ventures remain competitive, productive, efficient and profitable.
He assured investors that Kenya is a safe, secure, stable democratic state anchored on the rule of law.
Further, the President explained that the country has a well developed legal system that guarantees the security of property rights.
“Our democracy is robust and accountable while the Judiciary is independent and effective. Kenya is a highly attractive investment spot,” he reiterated.
He added that the Government endeavour to lower the cost of medicines and medical commodities through local manufacturing of medical commodities.
