In 2004, the association opened the Rhine Valley Hospital in Kenya. For many years, he ensured that people in the Kasambara-Gilgil region had basic health care and could obtain clean drinking water. The health care system in Kenya has become a business, with vying for patients and good staff. In recent years, RVH, as a non-profit health center, has found it increasingly difficult to recruit qualified medical staff or to retain them at the hospital in the long term. In addition, several health care facilities opened their doors in the RVH catchment area. Consequently, the number of patients treated as outpatients or inpatients declined steadily.
About three years ago, the Board of Management tried to stop the downward trend. He traveled to the hospital several times to reassess the situation. He visited several medical facilities in the Nakuru region and gained a picture of how the market had developed. In addition to many private providers, the Kenyan government is pushing to improve the health care system. Consequently, the framework conditions of Rhein-Valley Hospital had changed fundamentally since its opening in 2004. In order to ensure that a well-founded analysis could succeed, medical experts accompanied the board in each case. The medical doctor Rolf Ritter and his wife Kathrin, a nursing specialist, had gained valuable experience in their practice in Steinach as well as during stays abroad in Kenya. After the March 2019 trip, they recommended specific steps the board could use to optimize hospital operations. A few months later, the board was again on site and exchanged views with the employees. Eva Prevost, nursing specialist from Scharans GR, traveled with the staff to instruct them in the use of the new equipment.
Need no longer exists
Although the board had tried to turn the tide, it had to concede that there was no longer a need for medical services in Kasamba- ra-Gilgil through RVH. Consequently, he closed Rhine Valley Hospital at the end of July 2021. The employees, some of whom had been with the company for many years, received appropriate severance pay. Hospital director Ruth Schäfer withdrew from the association. She remains a resident of the region. Building and infrastructure handed over by the board to the community on site.
