Kenyatta National Hospital has scaled down all elective surgical procedures as the facility seeks to free more staff and space to accommodate the rising cases of Covid-19.
In a memo to all directors and head of departments in the facility dated March 23, the hospital’s Senior Director Clinical Services Dr Irene Inwani, however, noted that emergency surgeries will go on.
Dr Inwani, in the memo, indicated that stable patients will be discharged for continued care as outpatients in their nearest health facilities.
She said the clinical team and credit committee will facilitate this process as the hospital endeavours to reduce the number of patients in the wards.
“In order to ensure that discharged patients have ample time to leave the hospital premises and reach their destination in good time so as not to breach the curfew, all documentation including case summary (for discharged patients) to be prepared and sent to the billing office not later than 2:30pm every day,” she said in the memo.
The billing process is to be enhanced so that all discharged patients are cleared by 4 pm.
“All hospital wide meetings to be minimized and where possible use virtual platform,” reads the memo.
The country is currently facing a third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic which has claimed 2,048 lives so far. A total of 123,167 people have been confirmed positive so far with the number of patents in need of critical care, especially supplemental oxygen, increasing in the recent days.
1,090 people are admitted in various hospitals in the country, the highest number of hospital admissions this year. Out of this, 135 are in critical care 95 per cent of whom are either on ventilatory support or on oxygen.
