History Of The Hospital
The Presbyterian Church Hospital at Kikuyu is one of the oldest hospital in Kenya, having been founded in 1908 by Scottish Missionaries, led by Dr. Arthur, who moved up-country from Kibwezi. The aim of the missionaries was to educate the young boys and girls as health workers, among other objectives.
Growing only slowly over the early years from its beginnings as a small first-aid centre, the hospital received a major boost in 1975 from the late President Jomo Kenyatta, who seconded medical staff to the hospital from the Government. In the same year also, the first ophthalmic work was done at the newly-founded Eye Unit.
In addition, work on diabetes, a condition which brought so many patients to the Eye Unit, expanded in 1993 into a specialist Diabetes Unit aiming at teaching self-management to diabetic patients and their families, and also at improving knowledge and skills among health professionals.
The hospital established the Eye Unit in 1975 and it serves patients from East and Central Africa and also trains medical personnel in eye care. This has inevitably made Kikuyu Hospital known well beyond the country's borders. In 1993, an orthopaedic unit was set up to specifically deal with orthopaedic problems not related to trauma. This programme has evolved into a comprehensive Rehabilitation Centre and new facilities for this work were built and dedicated in 1998.
In 2006 Dental unit was developed in partnership with the First Presbyterian Church, USA (Fargo, North Dakota) to meet the growing demand for quality dental treatment in a pleasant environment.
