KISUMU, Kenya – President William Ruto has gazetted the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu to a Level 6 facility.
The hospital’s status was elevated in a legal notice number 111 90 dated June 18, 2025, and is expected to boost the Universal Health Care (UHC) in the larger Western Kenya region.
“We did approve as the Cabinet the elevation of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital to level six and we have now taken over the funding and the management of that facility,” said President Ruto during a consultative meeting with Kisumu County leadership.
In this year’s budget, the head of state disclosed that his administration had allocated Sh3 billion to the medical facility.
“I know the county government has been spending closer to Sh1 billion annually to support that facility, but now the devolved unit will have an extra Sh1 billion to do something else like improving the smaller facilities,” he added.
How the national government is supporting JOOTRH
According to the president, the Sh3 billion, money that was not there in the past will now be used not to just manage the elevated facility but to begin the process of transforming that hospital to a truly level six facility.
“There are other interventions that we are going to carry out in that facility because it occupies a significant place in making sure that we support health provision at that level,” said President Ruto.
President Ruto also observed that most people still seek treatment from Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret and the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi.
“So, with the takeover and the improvement of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital we should now be able to do more. With this funding, we expect to see a difference in that facility,” explained the president.
Why JOOTRH is an essential facility in Western Kenya
On May 22, 2024, Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda requested for a statement on the need to upgrade the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital to a level six facility.
“I rise, pursuant to Standing Order 53 (1), to seek a statement from the Standing Committee on Health on the need to upgrade the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kisumu County to a level six teaching and referral hospital,” said the senator.
Senator Ojienda argued that the facility was then classified as a level five facility under the stewardship of the County Government of Kisumu, providing vital medical and health care services to residents across more than 10 counties in the Western Kenya region.
“The facility serves a combined population exceeding 10 million people. Mr. Speaker, this is a follow up request following a Statement issue on Tuesday, June 13, 2023, and whose responses were not sufficient,” Senator Ojienda added.
What Senator Tom Ojienda told the Health Committee
In the Statement, Senator Ojienda told the Committee to invite necessary measures and steps needed to upgrade the hospital from a level five to a level six teaching and referral hospital.
“Further, the hospital be accorded access to budgetary resources, medical equipment and human resources attached to that status and recommend policy and legal frameworks needed to facilitate and realise the upgrade to a level six facility,” he explained.
In a letter addressed to former Principal Secretary Ministry of Health, Dr. Susan Mochache, Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o said that over the last 10 years, the hospital had served as a teaching hospital for Maseno, Uzima and Kabianga universities.
As it continues to grow and expand, Governor Nyong’o reiterated that the facility needed to be upgraded to a level six facility to receive requisite support to effectively deliver referral health services and develop appropriate university-level medical education sustainably.
“I am therefore appealing to the Ministry of Health to upgrade the hospital to a level six facility,” said Governor Nyong’o in the letter dated July 22, 2021, and copied to the then Principal Secretary, State Department for Devolution, Julius Korir.
