UN Constructing Sh1 Billion Covid-19 Treatment Facility in Nairobi for its Employees

The United Nations (UN) is building a Sh1 billion Covid-19 treatment facility in Nairobi for its employees who contract the virus.

The 150-bed treatment center is being put up at the Nairobi Hospital to cater to the global organization’s workers and family members in Africa, according to Bloomberg.

“Construction of the facility starts July 20th, to open in six to eight weeks,” the Nairobi Hospital CEO Allan Pamba.

The facility will have an operating theater, laboratory, radiology and physiology services, 25 intensive-care units (ICU), and 50 high-dependency units (HDU).

UN Africa headquarters are located in Nairobi with more than 3,000 workers. The organization also has offices in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and several peacekeeping missions with over 70,000 personnel.

“The new facility will reduce the burden of caring for Covid-positive United Nations personnel and partners on the Kenyan health care system,” UN Nairobi office Director-General Zainab Hawa Bangura said.

“Besides helping finance, the facility, the UN will provide specialized equipment that is in short supply globally and may not be easily available in Kenya.” 

The building of the facility comes amid a spike in the number of Covid-19 infections in Kenya and Africa at large in recent weeks. Some hospitals in Nairobi are already being overwhelmed by Covid-19 patients with President Kenyatta convening a crisis meeting this week to discuss the rising cases.

As of Tuesday, there were 14,168 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Kenya, 250 fatalities, and 6,258 recoveries.