M-Pesa Foundation will embark on a Kshs 60 million investment to support the construction of a new Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) unit at Vihiga County Referral Hospital.
The new facility is set to increase the hospital’s bed capacity from 15 to 32 which will accommodate more mothers in the postnatal and antenatal wards. Additionally, the construction of the newly equipped 8-bed newborn unit will cater for newborns in need of further care.
(TOP: Dr. Wilber K. Ottichilo, Governor, Vihiga County – right – assisted by Joseph Ogutu, chairman, Safaricom Foundation – left – during the official groundbreaking Ceremony of the Integrated Maternal Newborn Child and Health Complex at Vihiga County Referral Hospital).
“Maternal healthcare is one of M-Pesa Foundation’s key focus areas under the health pillar. To this effect, we have partnered with various county governments across the country to establish modern mother and child units in key health centres to ensure that mothers have safe and clean environments to deliver their babies and reduce maternal and infant mortality rates in the country,” said Joseph Ogutu, Safaricom Foundation Chairman.
The maternal unit will also include commodities to provide a variety of critical services such as postnatal and antenatal care, caesarian section deliveries, comprehensive clinic care, and laboratory services. It is expected to accommodate more expectant mothers and newborns from Vihiga and the surrounding Kakamega and Kisumu counties.
The Foundation has successfully constructed similar facilities in Homa Bay, Nyeri and Kwale counties and has ongoing projects in Busia, Bungoma, Kiambu, Siaya and Embu counties.
M-PESA Foundation has also invested in the education sector within the county, recently handing over and commissioning the renovations of school infrastructure at Gamoi and Chekombero Primary Schools respectively.
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