This archive report was first published on 3 May 2021.
As the country battles the third wave of the coronavirus, Bomet County is taking proactive steps to support its neighbours in need of oxygen. The county's main oxygen plant at Longisa Referral Hospital has a surplus of oxygen, which will be donated to nearby health facilities.
According to Governor Hillary Barchok, the county's oxygen plant, upgraded in 2015 with new compressors in 2019/2020, produces an average of 8,000 litres of oxygen per hour, far exceeding the demand in public health facilities.
Private health facilities, including Siloam Hospital in Kericho County and St Clare Kaplong Hospital, are the largest consumers of oxygen from the devolved unit. The governor stated, 'The plant produces an average of 8,000 litres of oxygen per hour whose supplies far surpasses the demand in our public health facilities.'
Longisa County Referral Hospital has 34 Covid-19 isolation beds connected directly to oxygen through a piping system, and the county is in talks with other developed units to extend oxygen supply to all public health facilities.
Reports indicate that Narok and Kericho Counties have made inquiries about the supply capacity, and the situation elsewhere in the nation is dire, with both private and public hospitals facing an acute shortage of oxygen.
By Lamech Arisa
