NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 4 – The Council of Governors (CoG) on Wednesday reported the number of unoccupied Intensive Care Unit beds in counties at 320 and with 122 beds in the High Dependency Unit.
CoG Chairperson Martin Wambora said in total there were 512 ICU beds in 31 counties, with 192 already occupied, and a total of 284 HDU beds with 162 beds occupied.
“This is an indication that there is an increase in number of patients who require critical health care,” Wambora explained.
He further said of the 7,566 available isolation beds in the counties, 1,287 were occupied, bringing the total number of available beds to 6,279.
Wambora also noted that the demand for oxygen had gone high.
To mitigate a looming shortage, Wambora said county governments will procure additional gaseous and liquid oxygen to match the increased demand, extend piped outlets and repair of non-functional oxygen generation plants.
“We call upon our partners to continue working with county governments in availing medical oxygen and infrastructure improvements in the health facilities,” he said.
As of August 1, 2021 the counties had reported 2,225 COVID patients under the home-based care program.
The counties of Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kiambu, Nyeri and Kilifi were reported to have the highest number of infections, overtaking the Western Kenya region which had earlier on been declared a virus hotspot.
The country’s COVID-19 positivity rate on Tuesday stood at 15.4 per cent, above the WHO’s recommended of below 5 per cent for flattening the curve.
About The Author
