Lodwar is the current headquarters of Turkana County. Since it is centrally placed many people tend to travel to this town for many services of which health care is one of them. Because it is the only hospital in the entire county that has better health care facilities, it therefore serves referrals from other hospital facilities as a referral hospital.
Lodwar county referral hospital was formerly known as Lodwar district hospital and is located in Lodwar town along Lodwar – Lokichoggio highway. It has a bed capacity of 270 and 36 cots.
The services offered at Lodwar county referral hospital includes:
- Curative in – patient services.
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Curative out – patients.
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Maternal and child health services.
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Antiretroviral therapy.
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HIV testing and counselling.
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Pharmaceutical services (pharmacy).
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Laboratory services.
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X – Ray services.
There are wards for men and women so as to cater for all the patients admitted to the hospitals for further management or close observations. There is also a theater for surgical procedures to take care of those who are admitted because of surgical implications and are then managed further after surgery.
Out – patient are those patients who come with minor illness which are then treated and patients are allowed to go back home because those illness are not complicated.
This hospital takes care of mothers and children in a unit known as MCH (maternal and child health) where there is antenatal clinics for pregnant women, family planning clinic for postnatal mothers and immunization unit for children under the age of five years.
The comprehensive care centre (CCC) and visit centre takes care for those clients who come to this hospital for HIV testing and counselling. Those clients who diagnosed with HIV/AIDS are then put under antiretroviral therapy and continue with other management.
The x – ray department deals with general body x – rays and ultra sound and other services such as laboratory tests are also carried out within the hospital to assist in making diagnosis of various diseases. The pharmacy department is the one supplying medications to the entire hospital fraternity and also out- patients who buy their drugs on their way home.
Lodwar county referral hospital can be contacted through:
Lodwar county referral hospital,
P.O. Box 18 – 30500, Lodwar, Kenya.
Telephone number: 054 21073 or 054 21077
Cell phone: 0711221164