Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital. /HANDOUTThe iconinc Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital will in due course be elevated to a national teaching and referral facility and designated as a state corporation.
The Cabinet approved the move on Tuesday at a meeting chaired by President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi.
The elevation of the facility, named after Kenya's first Vice President and located in the heart of Kisumu city, will put the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) at par with Nairobi's Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH).
JOOTRH was commissioned in 1969 and opened to the public in October of that year.
In 2024, the JOOTRH was designated as a Level 6 facility following a joint assessment by the Kenya Health Professional Oversight Authority (KHPOA) and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council (KMPDC) and the Nursing Council of Kenya.
KHPOA scored JOOTRH at 85 per cent, recognising the improvements made since a previous inspection on August 1, 2023.
"Based on these findings, the committee has recommended upgrading the hospital’s status to better reflect its current service offerings," the Kisumu county government said.
The inspection team identified several key strengths at JOOTRH, including expanded specialist coverage.
The team found that JOOTRH boasts a growing number of specialised doctors, complementing the general medical officers who handle routine cases.
Prior to its elevation to Level 6 status, the hospital fulfilled the mandatory requirements, including functional theaters, oncology services, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), teaching hospital status, laboratory services, and pharmacy adequacy.
JOOTRH has 11 operational theaters, including general, A&E, and three dedicated maternity theaters; offers adult and pediatric oncology services, has a 13-bed ICU with operational patient monitors and its pharmacy maintains a sufficient stock of pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical supplies.
The facility also serves as a teaching hospital for medical students from Maseno and Uzima Universities and offers Class E laboratory services.
By the time of the assessment, the Class E laboratory services was undergoing an upgrade to Class F.
Despite the commendable infrastructural status that earned JOOTRH the upgrade, the inspection team noted various areas that needed improvement.
These include recommendations to increase the number of segregation bins and designated waste lines across all departments for better waste management and the establishment of emergency escape routes with essential health products and technologies (HPTS) at key service points.
The team also recommended replacing the asbestos roof in the outpatient section with a more environmentally friendly material.
Prolonged exposure to asbestos has been linked to various types of cancers including lung cancer and mesothelioma, a cancer that develops in the tissue lining of the lungs, abdomen, and heart.
Other recommendations included expansion of the Emergency and Accident department to accommodate the current workload and recruitment of additional staff, including critical care nurses, general nurses, medical officers, specialists, and medical officer interns.
The inspection team further said that the inpatient ward documentation needs to be more comprehensive.
In its Cabinet dispatch, State House did not reveal whether the recommendations, which include enhanced budgetary allocation - have been met prior to Cabinet's approval of the elevation of JOORTH to a national referral facility.
