Nakuru County requires an additional Ksh.6 million to fully operationalize an Oxygen plant that is able to produce 2000 tonnes per day. The project that cost the county government Ksh.124 million shillings was established in August 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
A visit to the plant located at the Nakuru Referral and Teaching Hospital revealed that the first phase of the project, the construction of the plant is complete.
“This is a new plant built as a response to the increased demand for oxygen following the COVID-19 pandemic, it was started in 2021. Previously we relied on a smaller plant in partnership between the department with a private company. It was able to fill 40-60 cylinders in 24 hours,” Dr.Daniel Wainaina, Nakuru County Director of Medical Services says.
The developers abandoned its initial site where the groundbreaking ceremony took place on August 4, 2021 after identifying a new site that is centrally located and can supply oxygen to the Regional Cancer Centre, Margaret Kenyatta Mother-Baby Wing, the new Outpatient Department, Theatre, and Wards.
The plant that produces 2000 litres of Oxygen per minute utilizes 20% of its capacity, supplying oxygen to the Nakuru Referral and Teaching Hospital.
However, an additional Ksh.6 million is required for the second phase of the project, piping, to transport oxygen directly to the patients. The money has been allocated in the Nakuru County approved Budget for the Fiscal year 2023/2024.
“In this year’s budget we have put an allocation for piping and we hope that before June next year, the piping will be complete, eventually when we come up with a new inpatient block it will be designed to ensure each bed is piped with oxygen and make availability to this critical commodity to all our patients,” Wainaina says.
The Oxygen plant depends on an integrated technology dubbed Pressure Swing Absorption (PSA) to produce medical oxygen.
“This technology is called PSA technology that takes air out of the environment and purifies it to purity to 90-96% of Oxygen and we are able to fill oxygen cylinders and pipe to the end user.”
Before construction works commenced, Nakuru Referral Hospital required 140 Oxygen Cylinders to meet the demand for COVID-19 patients. Health facilities depended on Hewa Tele Oxygen Plant which was not sufficient, due to the rising demand.
During the groundbreaking ceremony in August 2021, former Nakuru Deputy Governor Dr. Eric Korir stressed the need for operationalising the oxygen plant.
“You need to realize that without this oxygen we are in serious problems. This is a 20-week project, I was asking why 5 months, why not three months, we need oxygen as soon as yesterday,” Wainaina says.
When launched, the Oxygen plant will supply oxygen to the neighboring counties of Nyandarua, Bomet, Samburu, Baringo, Kericho, and Narok.
The Oxygen plant will become the second of its kind in the Rift Valley Region, after another plant at the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) Eldoret.
