Police plan to construct hospital set in motion
Inspector-General of Police Joseph Boinnet (left) with head of Directorate of Criminal Investigations Ndegwa Muhoro during a security briefing at the IGs office on February 26, 2016. Mr Boinnet, on March 20, 2016, said that the National Police Service Referral hospital is expected to be operational in the next two years. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- The plan has been shelved for many years but the police boss assured his officers that it was all systems go.
- Most officers injured in the field are usually airlifted to Defence Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi for specialized treatment.
The National Police Service is constructing a 300-bed referral hospital that will cater for both serving and officers who retire honourably.
The Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinnet on Sunday said that the National Police Service Referral hospital is expected to be operational in the next two years.
The police boss said that the land near the Inland Container Depot (ICD) that had been identified for the construction of the hospital was taken by the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), delaying the project.
He, however, said that it was on the cards after all the necessary approvals had been done. “The land has been identified and plans have been approved. We have also secured the funds for the construction,” he said.
The plan has been shelved for many years but the police boss assured his officers that it was all systems go.
Most officers injured in the field are usually airlifted to Defence Forces Memorial Hospital in Nairobi for specialized treatment.
Others are taken to the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and the Nairobi West hospital.
However, the police boss said that the service would now have its own facility for specialized treatment. The recruitment of doctors, nurses and support staff will be done late next year.
With the acquisition of additional aircraft, Mr Boinnet said there would be prompt evacuation of injured and sick officers.
Around the year 2000, there were allegations of misuse of funds collected by police towards the construction of the hospital.
Police officers were contributing Sh20 monthly towards the project that was later abandoned.
In one of the Parliamentary debates in December 2000, the then Internal Security minister Marsden Madoka told the house that police was working to “put up their own hospital where police officers can be helped when they are sick.”
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) has the Defence Forces Memorial hospital that not only caters for the soldiers but also police officers injured while on duty.
All the doctors, nurses, and support staff at the medical facility are soldiers making it safer and convenient for the sick officers.
