Eldoret-based Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital has sought approval to build Africa’s largest hospital with 4,000 beds to service western Kenya’s 24 million people.
South Africa’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital with, 3,400 beds is currently the largest.
According to regulatory filings, the Sh28 billion project, earmarked for construction on 200 acres at Kiplombe on the outskirts of Eldoret town, will complement services offered at its current multi-specialty 1,000-bed centre on Nandi Road.
The report says the 4,000 beds will be accommodated in six multi-storeyed buildings and an accompanying 36 nursing units. It adds that 22 new general outpatient clinics will be hosted in a three-floor complex that will also accommodate a paediatric clinic, thereby easing congestion and fast-tracking dispensation of services to residents.
The notice contained in the Kenya Gazette said a five-floor medical technology block will be put up as well as a separate administration office block with new staff apartments. The plan includes a research development and innovation building on a separate block.
The announcement indicates an end to a raging ownership row with a group of squatters that hampered commencement of the project last year.
The new project dwarfs the biggest referral and regional hospital, Kenyatta National Hospital, that currently has 1,800 beds and 6,000 members of staff.
On Monday, National Environmental Management Authority said it would make its decision known in the next 30 days.
There had been a long-standing legal battle between the hospital and the Kenya Prison Service over ownership of a section of the land. But the dispute was resolved after the National Land Commission permitted the use of the property for the hospital project.