The project for the ‘Kenya International Mental Wellness Hospital’, a Citadel of psychiatric health that will rise on the outskirts of Nairobi, is entirely Italian. The San Donato Group (Gsd) and Gksd Investment Holding Group, at the instigation of the Kenyan government, which with the new hospital want to give a concrete response to the scourge of mental discomfort, which has increased sharply in the country in recent years, are at the core of the initiative. Today the foundation stone was laid, with the President of the Republic of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, together with several ministers of his executive, the Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, the GSD Vice President Paolo Rotelli and Kamel Ghribi, GSD Vice President and Gksd President Investment Holding.
The new pole for the treatment of mental illnesses will rise on a hilly area of about 80 hectares, on the western outskirts of Nairobi; it will host up to 600 patients and will be a reference hub for Central East Africa. Three years are foreseen for the construction of all areas of the hospital complex, which covers an area of 172 thousand square meters within which only 19% will be built, in a ‘green’ perspective. In Italy, the construction of a similar work would involve an investment of around 300 million euros, but in the African country the project could have lower costs. In parallel with the construction, training aimed at local staff will be launched, directed by the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan. To realize the idea, it took 2 years of collaboration and discussion between the GSD staff and that of the current psychiatric hospital in Nairobi.
“We are creating a modern structure for the treatment of psychiatric diseases – says Rotelli – which are becoming an increasingly widespread problem in a society like the Kenyan and in general African, which in recent years has passed from rural to urban. present new health problems, typical of city life, such as mental disorders linked to anxiety, depression and addictions. The new complex includes, in addition to the clinical area, also a sports center, the university teaching area, the residential area “. It will be a center “totally immersed in nature, with the aim not only of treating, but facilitating the return of patients to the community”.
“Thanks to the healthcare expertise of the first Italian healthcare group – says Ghribi – we can build a concrete collaboration between Italy and Kenya, but also between Europe and Africa, also contributing to the improvement of international relations. Healthcare can become more and more effectively the way to new relations between peoples, with consequent improvement of international relations. Initiatives of this type, which see the development of the public-private partnership, can facilitate dialogue and promote peace, which must be the goal of every international actor. and the commitment of President Kenyatta and Minister Di Maio, whom I warmly thank, are the most evident representation “.
