A 13 MILLION DENTAL LABORATORY TO BE BUILT IN NYERI.

County Executive Member for Health Charles Githinji.

BY Lena J.

A new state-of-the-art dental laboratory will be set up at Nyeri Provincial General Hospital at a cost of Sh12.7 million. Speaking after visiting at the facility yesterday, County Executive member for Health Charles Githinji said the fully-fledged department will be complete in one-and-a-half months.

He said before the old dental department was gutted down by an inferno last year, the county had already procured the modern equipment for the laboratory which had been kept at a secured store. Githinji said after the fire, a temporary center was set up with six dental units for smooth delivery of services.

He inspected the ongoing renovation of the center, which will cost Sh6.7 million under a contract. “Though the operations at the center were interrupted, it did not stall. Immediately after the renovation, we will have a state-of-art laboratory, a first of its own kind in this region. We will soon have a fully fledged dental centre,” said Githinji.

On January 11, 2015, tension gripped patients and medics at the facility after fire razed equipment worth millions of shillings. Nyeri Central Assistant Deputy County Commissioner John Marete said the fire was caused by an electric fault at the upper floor of the department and quickly spread to other areas.

Marete said that the facility’s security officer Denis Muthuka hurriedly contacted the police and fire extinguishers who rapidly responded to the incident.

“The security and fire fighters managed to respond swiftly and contained the fire from escalating to the lower floor and other buildings in the hospital,” said Marete. The administrator affirmed that the department had been equipped with new dental machines.