Kenyatta University Hospital

The hospital is located on a 100-acre piece of land that lies along the Nairobi Northern Bypass road, in the Northwestern part of the Kenyatta University. The main entrance is along the Northern Bypass road. The geographical coordinates of the hospital are: 01°10'33.0"S, 36°54'57.0"E (Latitude:-1.175833; Longitude:36.915833).[1]

KUTRRH is a leading National Referral Hospital with a 650-bed capacity that offers highly specialised Oncology, Trauma & Orthopedics, Renal, Accident & Emergency, among other services.

It further offers both outpatient and inpatient services supported by state of the art radiology services, 24 bed ICU, HDUs and Theatres. It features additional support services and facilities such as a specialist clinics Plaza, Staff Quarters, Academic Block, Laundry & Catering Services, Restaurants, Funeral Home, Oxygen Plant, Water Treatment plant, Helipad, Banks, among others.

The hospital aims to:

• Provide adequate and quality health care for all, including highly specialised services.
• Train health care professionals for the local and regional market; facilitated by the state of the art technology such as teleconferencing.
• Reduce the outward flow of medical professionals and attract inbound medical tourism from countries within the Eastern African region and beyond.
• Address the current health challenges, including non-communicable diseases such as cancer, kidney disease, among others.
• Carry out medical/scientific research to come up with innovative ways to address health issues in the region.

The growing demand for health care pushed the Kenyan Government to see the need to implement an effective health care system. With this in mind, the Kenyan Government held discussions with a leading Chinese Medical Corporation about the possibility of setting up a state-of-the-art medical facility in Kenya.

A follow-up visit by the then Minister for Health, Hon. Charity Ngilu culminatedi n the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2005. A cabinet paper

was then prepared and endorsed by Parliament in 2005.

The Management of Kenyatta University led by Prof. Olive Mugenda conceptualised the hospital project in 2008 and embarked on writing a proposal for it. The proposed project would have innovative and unique research and treatment centres that would fill the gaps in medical service provision in Kenya. This proposal was presented to the Ministry of Health, appealing for funding to set up a Teaching, Research and Referral Hospital.

With the support of the Kenyatta University Council, and the Government of Kenya through various Ministries and their Permanent Secretaries, the idea came to fruition with the signing of an M.O.U on Thursday, 21 April 2011 between the Chinese Government and the Government of Kenya.

The then Minister of Finance and currently the President of the Republic of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta signed the M.O.U on behalf of the Government of Kenya, and Mr. Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China on behalf of the People’s Republic of China. The signing was witnessed by the former President H.E. Mwai Kibaki at State House Nairobi.

The construction of this state of the art facility started in the year 2011. The construction process involved the creation of the hospital, a medical school, tuition block, student hostels, laboratories, staff quarters and Installation of modern medical equipment which was completed in 2016.

Legal notice No. 4 of 2019 issued on 25 January 2019 created KUTRRH as a state corporation. After that, the KUTRRH Board of Directors was established, and the process of operationalising the hospital began. The hospital opened its doors for the patients on 28 October 2019.

The chairperson of the hospital's board of directors is Prof Olive Mugenda, the former Vice Chancellor of Kenyatta University.

The hospital has emphasised on the use of cutting edge research, innovation and collaboration/partnership to keep abreast with advancements in health management. This is to ensure it is responsive to the known health status, the emerging health challenges, and to manage future health needs.

Some areas of interest include:  

• Telemedicine
• Public health
• Health management systems
• Sexual & reproductive health
• Paediatric health
• Communicable and non-communicable diseases
• Alternative medicine

• Website of Kenyatta University Hospital
• There Has Been A Phenomenal Surge of Interest in Social Innovation As A Way to Achieve Sustainable Economic Growth (Slide Presentation) As of 13 May 2015.
• Compare This New Hospital in Ghana To the Eyesore Kenyatta University Has Just Built As of 3 March 2017.