Garissa County Teaching and Referral Hospital will be elevated to a National Referral Hospital as part of the Government’s efforts to strengthen access to specialised healthcare services in Northern Kenya.
The planned upgrade forms part of the Ministry of Health’s ongoing reforms to expand Kenya’s national referral healthcare network. Last week, the Ministry officially transitioned Mwai Kibaki Referral Hospital in Othaya, Nyeri County, into an autonomous National Referral Hospital, paving the way for similar upgrades across the country.
Once operationalised as a National Referral Hospital, Garissa County Teaching and Referral Hospital will serve as the premier specialised healthcare facility for Garissa and the wider North Eastern region, significantly reducing the need for patients to travel to Nairobi and other parts of the country to access advanced medical care.
The transition is expected to strengthen the hospital’s governance through greater institutional autonomy, enhanced management structures and increased government funding to support specialised services, modern medical equipment and human resources.
The upgrade will also expand the hospital’s capacity to provide specialised treatment, advanced diagnostic services, critical care, maternal and neonatal healthcare, surgical services, medical education and research.
The move aligns with the Ministry of Health’s commitment to improving equitable access to quality healthcare under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda while addressing the growing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
Garissa County Teaching and Referral Hospital first opened its doors to the public in 1967 as a municipal health facility before being transferred to the Ministry of Health in 1970.
Originally established to serve a relatively small population, the hospital has since grown into a teaching and referral facility with an average bed occupancy rate of 82 per cent.
The hospital has seven major inpatient wards: male medical, male surgical, female medical, female surgical, gynaecology, maternity and paediatric. Its maternity unit has a capacity of 41 beds and is supported by 28 neonatal incubators.
The facility serves a catchment population of more than 52,900 people and handles an average of 10,588 new outpatient visits and 1,073 inpatient admissions every month.
The hospital provides referral services to neighbouring counties including Wajir, Mandera, Isiolo, Tana River and Kitui. It also serves as the main referral facility for the Dadaab refugee complex, which hosts an estimated population of more than 355,000 refugees.
The hospital offers a broad range of services, including outpatient and inpatient care, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, psychiatry, rehabilitation, diagnostic and laboratory services, health records and information management, intensive care, renal services, oncology, CT scan and MRI imaging.
It also hosts a regional satellite blood transfusion centre that supplies blood and blood products across the North Eastern region.
Recent investments have strengthened the hospital’s capacity, including the establishment of a Regional Cancer Centre that serves patients from across Northern Kenya.
A modern eye unit has also been completed and awaits staffing and operationalisation, while a new mortuary with a capacity of 12 bodies now provides embalming, post-mortem and body preservation services.
Like many county referral hospitals, Garissa County Teaching and Referral Hospital continues to face challenges, including increasing demand for healthcare services, inadequate funding and shortages of specialised healthcare personnel.
Despite these constraints, the hospital has made significant progress in improving service delivery through strategic planning, infrastructure expansion and investment in specialised healthcare.
It is one of Kenya’s eight former Provincial General Hospitals under the Ministry of Health, the facility has played a pivotal role in delivering referral services to a large and diverse population across the North Eastern region.
Its elevation to National Referral Hospital will accelerate these gains, positioning the institution as a centre of excellence for specialised healthcare, medical training and research.
It will ease pressure on existing national referral hospitals and bring advanced healthcare services closer to communities in Northern Kenya.
