In January 2014, the Aga Khan University Hospital opened the Aga Khan Medical Centre in Ridgeways, Nairobi. This is the 46th outreach centre the University Hospital has opened in East Africa, to offer high quality medical assistance to rural and urban populations.
The medical centres serve as ‘satellite’ clinics to the Aga Khan University Hospital in Parklands, Nairobi and link patients who cannot physically travel to Nairobi to the main hospital. Continuity of care for patients is seamless, where patients seen at the outreach centres can access specialist services at the main hospital, and then proceed with continued care at the outreach centres close to their homes.
The medical centres include a dental clinic, four stand-alone laboratory facilities with on-site testing, two collection centres (which gather samples and specimens for dispatch to AKUH’s main laboratory) and five diagnostic centres (which provide advanced testing and diagnostic facilities). Most of the medical centres provide primary outpatient services with a physician, a laboratory and a pharmacy. Additional services in some of the centres include dental, paediatrics and gynaecology services. The larger centres also have MRI, CT scanners, x-ray and ultra sound facilities. Reporting of radiology procedures at the medical centres is supported by the Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS). PACS is a medical imaging technology where the image can be viewed online, enabling specialists to report on the images without having to be physically present. PACS reduces the cost of care, and facilitates the efficiency and quality of diagnosis by the clinical team.
Currently, the outreach centres serve close to half a million patients per year. This is projected to grow to approximately 1.7 million patients a year by 2025. The outreach centres play a critical role in providing a referral base in secondary and tertiary healthcare for the University Hospital.
In addition to fee-paying clients, outreach centres reach out to low income communities through free medical camps. Over 10,000 people benefit from these free programmes every year. Free screening is done for conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, breast examination and cervical cancer. Health education is imparted for cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other non-communicable diseases. These programmes help early detection of diseases, raise awareness and promote healthy lifestyles. Patients found to have abnormal screening results and who are unable to pay for specialised care, are referred to the hospital’s Patient Welfare Program for assistance.
Health professionals at the medical centres receive continuous training. This keeps them abreast of the latest advancements in medical treatments and technology.
