Trauma centre: The future lifeline for those broken on Nakuru roads

I am standing outside the accidents and emergency entrance at Nakuru PGH, surrounded by blaring ambulance sirens and rushed footsteps.

The footsteps belong to medical staff focused at receiving patients who have just been involved in a gruesome accident at the dreaded Migaa blackspot.

30 people have been confirmed dead on the spot after a bus from Matunda sacco collided head on with a trailer. The day is Sunday, December 31, 2017.

Inside the hospital, patients who were present now stand bewildered, as they make way for the injured to be moved to the emergency rooms.

Those who had sat at the waiting bay have moved away, clustered together in a corner as they watch the rush to save lives unfolding.

As I stand inside the emergency room, interviewing the survivors for my story, I notice the floors have small puddles of blood. I am standing on one.

Soon, the injured, lucky to have escaped the horror with their lives intact will be patched up and admitted to one of the wards, mixed up with other patients.

But if the trauma centre was complete, this story would be very different.

A trauma center is a hospital equipped to provide specialized care for patients with severe, life-threatening physical injuries from incidents like car accidents, falls, and gunshot wounds. 

By now you may have heard of this facility that was officially launched by the late President Mwai Kibaki on 14^th June 2012 and was expected to be completed by 13^th June 2013.

It stands near the morgue looking battered as the white paint falls off, a constant reminder of the specialised care being denied to road crash victims brought to PGH for treatment.

But it seems this is about to change after President William Ruto issued a directive mandating the Kenya Defence Forces to lead the reconstruction of this stalled project.

To set this in motion, Defence CS Soipan Tuya and Governor Susan Kihika relaunched the facility during a colourful ceremony on 13^th November 2025.

It was in this event that the hospital’s medical superintendent Dr James Waweru admitted that specialised care for road crash victims has not been at par due to lack of a trauma centre.

“There have been incidents where accident victims have not received proper care which has inhibited their recovery. This facility is coming to change that,” he said.

He further explained that once completed, accident survivors will be brought straight to this centre and not the accidents and emergency entrance, which doubles as the outpatient area, I described earlier.

Dr Waweru noted that the facility will also be staffed. This not only ensures operation in the larger hospital goes on in the event of accident survivors being brought in, but also saves other patients the trauma of seeing those injured from a road crash.

In her speech, Ms Kihika affirmed Dr Waweru’s sentiments saying, “It (trauma centre) will drastically reduce preventable deaths due to trauma and improve health outcomes for thousands.”

She further stated that the facility will have a minor and a major theatre, a radiology department, six wards, a High Dependency Unit (HDU), and an Intensive Care Unit (ICU), with a total bed capacity of 50.

This means the injured will not have to wait on the ICU beds in the larger hospital for example, which may be the difference between life and death.

It means faster care, prompt surgeries where needed and dedicated wards to recuperate in therefore having access to customised medical care, that is currently lacking.

It also means offsetting pressure from the larger hospital in general and offering specialised trauma care, the same way Margaret Kenyatta mother baby wing has done for maternal care.

The Governor concluded her speech in a touching statement saying, “I dedicate this moment to all the families who have lost loved ones due to delayed or inadequate trauma care. Let this centre stand as a lasting testament that we heard your cries, we acted, and we chose to do better.”

Now what you may not know is that initially, the funding of this facility came from the Molo-Nakumatt Fire Victim Fund and the Ministry of Medical Services.

The fund was expected to contribute Sh69.9 million, while the Ministry was to cover the remaining Sh20 million, bringing the total budget to 89.9 million.

But when devolution set in, and health was devolved to the counties, it was not clear who should finish the project.

The facility is now expected to cost Sh 100 million.

Once completed, this facility will significantly improve healthcare in Nakuru county and offer irrefutable support to the neighbouring counties.