Kenya’s first lady Margaret Kenyatta has opened a 250-bed Mother-Baby maternity Wing facility worth 450 million shillings at the Nakuru Level Five Hospital in her efforts to curb the infant mortality rate.
The facility that has been named ‘The Margaret Kenyatta Mother Baby Wing’ is in recognition of her commitment to end maternal and child mortality in Kenya which is the main aim of the new facility.
Expectant mothers are faced with numerous risks and are required to attend occasional clinics as advised by medics for monitoring purposes. The facility will help to reduce maternal and child mortality rates in the County as mothers can attend pre and postnatal clinics at ease.
The Margaret Kenyatta Mother Baby Wing can only be compared to East Africa’s largest maternity hospital in Nairobi, the Pumwani Maternity Hospital.
Maternal and child deaths are a challenge the African continent continues to struggle with 484 mothers dying in 2014 according to a report dubbed Saving Mothers Lives: Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths in Kenya a clear show that much is yet to be done.
The facility will also offer a well-baby clinic, immunization, comprehensive maternity care and family planning services. Premature babies have also been factored in with the available nursery equipment of a kangaroo baby unit where mothers will be required to provide warmth to nurture newborns.