Hospitals Introduce Telemedicine to Reduce Patient Wait Times

In a bid to cut down long queues and ease congestion in public health facilities, several Kenyan hospitals and counties are rolling out telemedicine services. Murang’a County, for example, recently launched virtual consultation capabilities in 36 of its health centres, linking patients with specialist doctors remotely to reduce the pressure on its Level 4 and Level 5 hospitals. Meanwhile, Bomet County has introduced telehealth at Longisa County Referral Hospital in partnership with the World Telehealth Initiative, making specialist care more accessible without patients having to travel long distances.
The national government is also backing the expansion of telemedicine. The Ministry of Health has allocated KSh 600 million to support the scale-up of remote healthcare services across 20 selected facilities, marking a strategic push to improve access for remote and underserved communities. According to officials, the technology allows patients to consult clinicians and receive prescriptions from lower-level clinics without having to go to large referral hospitals — a move expected to reduce travel time, costs, and physical wait times.
Health experts are welcoming the shift, citing telemedicine’s potential to decentralize care and improve efficiency. In Murang’a, Governor Irungu Kang’ata emphasised that digital consultations will help decongest hospitals, particularly for chronic disease patients who previously had to make frequent hospital trips. Nurses and clinicians in rural ward facilities are now equipped with computers to facilitate real-time communication, enabling them to refer patients to specialists without delay.
Looking ahead, the Ministry of Health aims to expand the programme nationwide, linking more facilities under a unified digital health infrastructure. If successful, the initiative could transform Kenya’s healthcare model — replacing long waits and referral bottlenecks with fast, connected, patient-centered care.