This archive report was first published on 15 July 2020.
July 15, 2020 - The government has ordered 500 hospital beds from two local artisans in Kiambu County to boost admission capacity in public hospitals under pressure from Covid-19-related cases.
According to a statement by the secretary of the President's Delivery Unit (PDU), Mr Andrew Wakahiu, the government decided to order the beds from Mr Mungai Gathogo, 26, and Mr Joseph Muhinja, 35, after assessing the quality of their beds.
The two artisans have a month-and-a-half to deliver the beds following President Uhuru Kenyatta's personal intervention. Their beds retail at around Sh65,000 each, compared with Sh85,000 for the cheapest available import.
Mr Wakahiu said the beds will be subjected to Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) protocols on their suitability for hospital use. The government will also reach out to Numeric Machining Complex to help the budding entrepreneurs with equipment and to speed up the production.
The order for the beds comes after President Uhuru Kenyatta directed counties to have at least a 300-bed isolation centre each in readiness to deal with the surging number of Covid-19 cases. He gave them a Sh5 billion conditional grant to boost their healthcare capacity by building the necessary infrastructure to enable them to cope with the pandemic.
