Michael Njuguna
15 November 2007
Nairobi — A modern 320-bed hospital has popped up in the middle of a cow pasture near the shores of Lake Elmentaita, about 20km from Nakuru Town.
But popping up is probably the wrong phrase to describe the new St Mary's Rift Valley Mission Hospital, sitting on a portion of 400 acres.
The land was donated by Mr Joseph Ng'era and was blessed by the then Bishop of Nakuru Catholic Diocese Ndingi Mwana a'Nzeki in 1995.
However, the fulfilment of the dream was not realised until a few years ago when Father (Dr) Fryda Bill and the Assumption Sisters Order came along. Fr Bill is a cancer specialist.
Mr Ng'era said he hoped that the Catholic Church would one day establish a university on another portion of the land to add to the development that has already taken place.
Fr Bill has contributed greatly in reaching out to donors whose contributions have given birth to the hospital.
"My joy is to bring the right people together. This hospital is the result of the passion of many people working together. My joy is to see things blossom," Fr Bill said.
Fr Bill, an American missionary who has worked in the country for more than 17 years, says that the hospital is intended to provide good quality and affordable health care to ordinary people at minimal cost.
There are plans to increase the bed capacity, which means that this hospital could, in the near future, overtake the Government-owned Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, which has slightly more than 500 beds.
The provincial general hospital serves as a referral institution for hospitals in the Rift Valley and parts of the larger Nyandarua District in Central Province.
Although the new mission hospital, sandwiched between Lake Elmentaita and the rolling hills has a big catchment owing to its proximity to Nakuru, Naivasha and Gilgil, it is anticipated that the sick from as far as western Kenya will seek treatment there.
In fact, the idea to move to the more spacious Elmentaita site was partly based on the huge number of patients now attending St Mary's Hospital at Otiende estate in Nairobi, which is run by the Assumption Sisters of Nairobi.
The Nairobi hospital, which was opened in July 2000, now carries out more than 600 surgical operations a month.
"At least 700 mothers deliver at the hospital every month," Fr Bill said, adding that many of the patients were from upcountry.
The new Hospital at Elmentaita has well-equipped intensive care, eye and dental units.
'The kind of medical care that will be provided in this hospital is not affordable to ordinary Kenyans elsewhere. Charges here are very low," said an employee.
Fr Bill said the new hospital will also provide chemotherapy treatment to people who cannot afford such services in private hospitals.
Surgery for people suffering from benign prostate glands is difficult and expensive, but Fr Bill says he has treated and restored good health to many. One of the men he operated on was 98 years old and is now healthy and robust at 103.
The Government's Nakuru District Development Plan for 2001 indicated that the district's doctor-population ratio was 1:13,417.
The document says that attendance in private hospitals largely served the middle and high income groups, while the poor sought treatment in government health centres and hospitals, which are always congested.
Government doctors
By 2001, half of the doctors working in the larger Nakuru District had their clinic in Nakuru Town.
This means that most of the people in the rural areas were treated by clinical officers and nurses.
The report says that in 1996, Nakuru Municipality had 52 out of the 57 government doctors working in the district. Olenguruone, Keringet, Njoro, Rongai, Bahati and Lower Subukia did not have any government doctors.
According to the document, 13 out of the 16 private doctors in the district had clinics in Nakuru Town, while only three had clinics in the smaller towns - Naivasha, Molo and Njoro.
Commenting on the modern equipment that includes endoscopies, chemical analysers, resuscitators and radiography machines, Fr Bill said: "A hospital for the poor doesn't have to be a poor hospital. We must do things with dignity."
The hospital will be prepared to handle more than 1,500 out patients daily initially, but facilities will be expanded to allow for about 2,000 in the near future.
When the hospital opened last month, more than 20 outpatients had been treated by lunchtime and one serious case admitted.
The hospital management has built houses for the entire staff, a club house, an Olympic size swimming pool and a shopping centre. There are plans to build a school.
The unique beauty
"Everyone who works here lives here," Fr Bill said.
A 16 apartments' hotel with self contained rooms is being built on the side overlooking the lake. But only guests approved by the management will be granted the favour of savouring the unique beauty of the place.
The hospital is putting to good use the free land including the establishment of an orchard, less than 100 metres from the wards.
"We shall probably have more fruit juice than water here," Fr Bill told the Nation jokingly next to the orchard, which has more than 1,600 fruit saplings.
The priest said that the hospital plans to build a retirement home for clergy in the proximity of the shoreline.
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