Kenyatta National Hospital Othaya Annex changes names to Mwai Kibaki Hospital

Kenyatta National Hospital Othaya Annex has been renamed Mwai Kibaki Hospital.

It is the first public institution to be named after the late retired president since his death.

Dr Peter Muiruri, a Senior Director at the medical facility said the management of Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) had elected to rename the institution in honour of the fallen President who started the construction of the hospital in 2010.

It was previously called the KNH Othaya Annex and shares a compound with the Othaya Sub County Hospital.

The main gate at the hospital has already been painted with the new name but hospital authorities said formal commissioning will be arranged in consultations with President Uhuru Kenyatta's office as he was widely expected to grace the launch.

He said the facility met all the requirements of a level six hospital which coincidentally happened after the death of the third President of the Republic of Kenya.

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“We have the required medical personnel and support staff needed and we are now good to go,” said Dr Muiruri.

Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga who spoke on Thursday at the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology during a requiem mass for the late retired President remembered how Kibaki turned down overtures to have the hospital named after him.

“He asked whether the medical facility had enough doctors and equipment for us to think of how to name the hospital and challenged us to first equip the facility,” the governor said.

According to Dr Muiruri, Kibaki through his brainchild the Othaya Development Association lobby group mooted the idea to construct the hospital and naming it after him was the best memory Kenyans and his former constituents for 33 years could have for him.

The Sh1 billion hospital's naming proposals have evolved from the Othaya Hospital, to Mwai Kibaki Teaching and Referral Hospital and later KNH Othaya Annex.

It is located Direct opposite Othaya Approved Grounds where the burial ceremony will be held tomorrow.

It covers the eight counties of the Mt Kenya region with a view to decongesting Kenyatta National Hospital.