By Ndungu Gachane
In bid to sustain and encourage Buy Kenya Build Kenya initiative, Muranga Governor Mwangi Wa Iria has given a tender to a Kiambu based man to manufacture 100 ICU beds.
In a partnership with Mr Mungai Gathogo who hit headlines for producing locally made hospital beds, Governor Mwangi Wa Iria led administration has also partnered with him to ensure that he impact his knowledge to Muranga based youth under the Ufundi Kwa Vijana Initiative.
Speaking Thursday at Muranga County headquarters, Health CEC Joseph Mbai said the deal will see knowledge exchange transfer where youth from Muranga will learn how to make such hospital beds in a move that will reduce costs since ICU and hospital beds are usually sourced from foreign countries.
“Other than boosting the young man by procuring 100 beds, we have agreed that youth from Muranga will get technical skills from the innovator to have the expertise of manufacturing hospital beds,” Mr Mbai said.
Governor Wa Iria becomes the first governor in Kenya to embrace the initiative after President Uhuru Kenyatta directed the Health Ministry to buy 500 beds from the innovator.
On his part, Mr Gathogo announced that his team has been duly registered and that his works have been given a clean bill of health by Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs) while the Numerical Machine Complex has helped them upgrade the ICU bed from a wooden one to a metal one.
He said his team has started recruiting welders and stocking needed machines to start the mass production of the procured 500 beds.
“We shall start the job by Tuesday next week, we have already employed 65 youth who will assist us meet the demand which is very high, Kiambu, Lamu and Muranga have ordered for the beds,” Mr Gathogo said.
