The relocation of Mathari Mathari National Teaching and Referral Hospital (MNTRH) from Thika Super Highway to Karen will cost the taxpayer 5 billion shillings. The government wants to relocate it to a 200-acre piece of land in Karen towards Ngong in Kajiado County.
The government says the hospital will be relocated to a “modern facility” that will see the “easing of pressure on Mathari Hospital staff” that is currently being witnessed in the facility along the Thika Superhighway. The process of exchanging the parcels of land has already begun.
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According to the records with the Auditor General, the parcel of land measuring 34.3 hectares in which Mathari mental hospital stands will be exchanged for a new parcel of land in Ngong measuring 81.69 hectares but the taxpayer will have to part with 5 billion shillings.
“Available records indicate the hospital will be relocated to a new location in Ngong, Kajiado County where a modern Neuropsychiatric National Teaching and Referral Hospital will be established at a cost of Sh5,000,000,000 over a two-year period,” the Auditor General said in an audit of the Health ministry.
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However, a scandal might be brewing as it is the norm with government projects after the Auditor General said that the terms of the exchange have not been spelled out clearly stating whether the parcel will remain in the custody of the Ministry of Health and consideration of land values for the two parcels that are being exchanged.
Mathari hospital is a specialized National Referral, Training, and Research public institution in mental health and admits patients with severe psychiatric disorders who cannot afford private services. The government last year announced plans to relocate mental care services from Mathari.
More on this story to follow.