For over fifty years, Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi (AKUH) has been taking care of families in East Africa. As a private, not-for-profit hospital, we strive to provide access to quality healthcare to all who need it.
Patients benefit from our unique team-based approach to care, which enables you to benefit from the diverse expertise of our entire team of medical professionals. As the teaching hospital for Aga Khan University’s Medical College and School of Nursing and Midwifery, we practice an evidence-based approach to medicine, driven by the cutting-edge research conducted by our experienced faculty members. Our approach to care is guided by our core principles of Quality, Access, Impact and Relevance.
At Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi:
Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) offers healthcare services that are relevant to the communities that we serve and beyond regardless of gender, faith or ethnic origin. Our dedicated staff, advanced facilities and state-of-the-art technologies have earned the hospital great reputation as a leading medical institution and teaching hospital in the region.
In 2013, we were granted the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, which is the highest international hospital accreditation. AKUH is the first hospital in East Africa and one of six other hospitals in Africa to receive this coveted accreditation. It was a proud moment for Aga Khan University Hospital’s staff and all physicians who practice at AKUH and a significant achievement in the region where patients no longer have to travel abroad to receive world-class care for services available at AKUH. The JCI accreditation, administered out of Chicago, USA, is an external validation that AKUH is providing the highest quality of patient care and safety in line with international peer hospitals.
Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi, (AKUH) has become the first in sub-Saharan Africa, to introduce a new advanced brain, head, neck and spine surgery technology. The highly specialised Stealth S7 neuronavigation system helps in planning a surgical approach to the targeted lesion with precision, confidence and safety, avoiding areas of the brain that directly control function during tumor surgery and in accurately operating on the spine during spinal fusion surgery.
Heart specialists at Aga Khan University Hospital recently performed the first heart valve replacement in the region using a novel technique that involves accessing the damaged area through only two punctures in the groin. This new technique of trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (known as TAVI) is only available in a few specialist centers around the world and requires a comprehensive team with experts who have internationally recognised experience in both open surgical and minimally invasive interventional techniques.
Neurointerventional surgery, a less invasive procedure that offers alternative to craniotomy which involves opening the skull has been introduced in the country at Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. The hospital becomes the first in the region to offer the procedure which is only available in Egypt and South Africa. The procedure has so far been done successfully on two patients.
Chronic pain that is undiagnosed or untreated may lead to disability and loss of proper functioning. This has a negative impact on a patient’s quality of life resulting in other illnesses such as depression, severe anxiety and consequently disability and loss of productivity. The Pain Management Unit at the hospital has introduced Neuromodulation procedure for treating patients suffering from chronic pain and disability. The procedure was performed for the first time in the region on 43 patients by a multidisciplinary team of specialists including pain medicine specialists, neurosurgeons, pain management therapists and psychologists from the hospital.
Recently, the hospital introduced a rare procedure of extracting platelets from the blood of donors using a Trima Accel machine, making Aga Khan University Hospital the only hospital in East and Central Africa to offer the service. One-of-its-kind, the procedure known as platelet apheresis involves a process of separating blood into its various components that include; platelets, Red Blood Cells (RBCs) and plasma with some components being retained (platelets) while the rest are transfused back to the donor.
AKUH Urodynamics Unit provides evidence based investigations and care for women and men with bladder problems. The Unit is equipped with a new urodynamics machine which studies the functions of the bladder and bladder neck in males and females. The tests carried out include uroflow, voiding/ filling phase assessment and bladder neck pressures.
A first of its kind in East Africa, the centre provides high quality care and treatment based on international standards for full spectrum of heart and cancer conditions. The population of sub-saharan Africa can now access specialised care with confidence and without having to travel abroad for treatment.
The centre located at the Jimmy Sayani Building consists of five operating theatres, twenty-three intensive care beds (including a cardiotherapic intensive care unit) and separate coronary intensive care unit, neonatal intensive care unit and two radiation therapy units for cancer treatment.
Services offered at Heart and Cancer Centre are as following: