Why Homabay residents can breathe easy at last

From left, Homa Bay County Referral Hospital acting CEO Peter Ogola, Governor Cyprian Awiti, his deputy Hamilton Orata and Finance CECM Nicholas Koriko supervise the newly established oxygen cylinder with a capacity of 3,500 liters in the county referral hospital. [James Omoro, Standard]

Treating of patients with Covid-19 complications in Homa Bay County got impetus after the county government put measures to address acute shortage of oxygen.

Homa Bay County Referral Hospital, the only health facility that offers Intensive Care Unit (ICU) services, has been suffering from shortage of oxygen since June.

But in an effort to salvage the situation, the county has established an oxygen tank with a capacity of 3,500 liters to address the matter. 

The tank has been established at the hospital. Governor Cyprian Awiti, his deputy Hamilton Orata, Finance Executive Nicholas Koriko and his Water counterpart Dickson Nyawinda toured the hospital to supervise the project.

The tanks have been established and piped into the ICU, High Dependency Unit, maternity and paediatric wards and are already in use. There are also 50 oxygen cylinders with a capacity of 4,500 litres which will be providing oxygen back up. Awiti said they will no longer seek support of oxygen from neighbouring counties such as Migori and Kisii.

He said the project will boost the fight against Covid-19 in the county. “Oxygen is critical for covid-19 patients,” Awiti said.