AFRICA outlook

H e a l t h c a r e
Africa Outlook speaks to
Dr John Kibosia of Moi Teaching
and Referral Hospital about what
it’s like operating Kenya’s second
largest referral hospital.
Writer Hannah Eiseman-Reynard
Project manager Eddie Clinton
he Moi Teaching and
Referral Hospital
located in Eldoret,
Kenya - home to
Kenya’s fourth
international airport - has nearly 100
years of history having been founded
in 1917 as the Native Cottage hospital
with a bed capacity of 60. Today, it
has a bed capacity of 550 serving the
larger Western and Nyanza provinces
in Kenya and its surrounding areas of
Kapenguria, Kapsowar, Kitale, Nandi,
Kapsabet and Tambach, as well as
offering medical education through
its association with Moi University, a
major development.
The hospital has certainly moved
with the times – and we’re happy to
bring you its story because, as it has
evolved, it has helped to transform
healthcare in Kenya.
Let’s go back to 1990 when its
association with Moi University began.
“Moi has been at the forefront of
training. The facility was upgraded
to a hospital to be a training facility
for the medical students,” explains
Dr John Kibosia of Moi Teaching and
Referral Hospital. “The link has been
good because so far whenever Moi
Hospital University is mentioned –
it is an honour. It is the university
which has made the hospital.”
The upgrade did not come without
its own challenges and, as the centre
upgraded and grew, the patient
numbers grew even more rapidly.
“Previously referral cases had
to be taken to Kenyatta national
Hospital but when Moi became a
referral hospital there was a crunch
upon it being declared as a referral
hospital,” says Dr Kibosia.
As the second-largest referral
hospital in Kenya, Moi’s catchment
area became a staggering 16.24
million people. Kenya’s total
population is 38.2 million.
It also has international patients.
“People come from up to Sudan and
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