Finally Kilifi County has a modern healthcare facility dedicated to the Coronavirus pandemic emergency.
Governor Amason Kingi yesterday inaugurated the section of the four-storey building that belongs to the new Kilifi hospital that will house the health departments that will work specifically to treat and deal with the Covid-19 virus.
 "The completion of the very modern health complex in Kilifi has given our County the necessary impetus to fight the Covid-19 pandemic - said Kingi during the inauguration yesterday - now we have a 150-bed isolation centre with 2 intensive care rooms equipped with ventilators and special beds, having converted part of the structure into an autonomous and specialized department".
Kilifi County was one of the first and most effective in pandemic containment measures, promptly activating a control, prevention and intervention unit. Not surprisingly, after the "partial lockdown" applied by closing the borders of the region from the outside and allowing only essential trade and emergencies to enter and exit, no new cases of contagion have occurred since last March 22.
Now the group of doctors and nurses who move daily to monitor the progress of suspected cases and perform swabs, in addition to working on prevention, will also join specialists and interns.
"We have already called and trained 92 doctors from different departments to act as frontline doctors for the emergency and we have another 92 interns hired to assist in health care facilities throughout the County," the Governor said. "Our County Public Service Department is currently interviewing other candidates to fill an additional 186 vacancies in the health department.
Kilifi's modern hospital facility, a €5 million project, was established in 2017 to provide the County with an anti-cancer unit with radiotherapy and chemotherapy services. It is equipped with a high dependency unit (HDU), an intensive care unit (ICU), four state-of-the-art operating theatres and equipment at the level of the best national hospitals.
"Once the crisis of Covid-19 is over," announced Kingi, "the complex will once again host these services and be a reference point for the whole coast.