Nairobi West Hospital unveils helipad to enhance emergency services - PHOTOS

Nairobi West Hospital, Nairobi on Wednesday launched a 24-hour customized helipad in a bid to enhance medical emergency services targeting a growing local and international demand.

With the facility, a first of its kind in Kenya, the hospital seeks to boost its response to medical emergencies by facilitating air evacuations within the country and across the East Africa region.

Dr Andrew Gachie, the Nairobi West Hospital Chief Medical Officer, says the resource will speed up access to medical services by many people in the country, especially critically ill patients.

“Each minute will now henceforth make a huge difference in our patient’s lives. The new helipad will speed up the time incurred transferring critically ill patients to the Hospital, giving them the very best chance of survival,” said Dr Gachie.

The Doctor noted that the helipad to will also cure the hurdle of navigating traffic that has been a major hindrance during medical emergency evacuation, especially for ground ambulances.

Dr Gachie added, “We are now moving away from the ground to a more efficient air medical emergency evacuation regime.”

He added that the 50.5 meters-high helipad atop its 17-storey hospital will give patients quick access to crucial care in cases involving trauma, critical care, surgery, high-risk birthing and premature new-born critical care.

According to Dr Gachie, the Helipad has been designed and constructed to Joint Commission International standards and has a capacity to handle up to eight tonnes at a time.

A trauma bay has also been developed below the helipad to cater to critical events during the emergency evacuations.

Nairobi West, which was established in 1980, has expanded its facilities in recent years to offer general and specialized services to customers from Kenya and across the East African region.

“We now have the right modern medical facilities that can offer a record 2-5 minutes treatment of critical illnesses. We are changing management of cancer in the country and across the region,” added Dr Gachie.