KNH invites KSH 15 Billion Private Wing Contractors to apply

Starting next week, Contractors interested in the planned construction of the controversial new KSh15 billion Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) private wing will be expected to declare their interest following a road map that will see a private investor build and run the hospital for 30 years then hand it back to the referral hospital had been rolled out by the KNH board.

The pre-qualified bidders will be expected to declare their interest before they submit their proposals in April 2020, and a contract released in September the same year.

“We do not receive much from the Exchequer for development and therefore this is a creative way of developing and ensuring the facility meets world-class standards,” KNH board chair Eng Nicholas Gumbo said.

In October last year, the board held an investor conference with investors from Nairobi and is expected to advertise a Request for Quote (RFQ) from interested bidders.

According to the RFQ document and project summary from Ernst & Young – who are the transaction advisors – the KNH PPP is a design, build, finance, equip, operate, maintain and transfer project that seeks to cater for 150,000 outpatients annually and offer specialist services at an agreed fixed annual fee and a share of the topline revenue on a quarterly basis for a tenure of 30 years.

The proposed hospital will also have a 40-bed step-down general facility, a central doctors’ plaza and a high-density parking bay for over 500 vehicles.

However, the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union has vowed to use every means within its powers to thwart the planned construction of a private wing saying, “Healthcare should not be a commodity for sale.”

“We are consulting widely, and we will stop at nothing to ensure Kenyans’ right to health is protected,” said Dr Oluga, KMPDU secretary General.

According to the KNH board the 300-bed facility will help the public hospital attract revenue.