By Erick Nyayiera
11 Technical Training Institutes have benefitted from Google sponsorship worth Ksh 500 million.
The development, courtesy of State department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training in partnership with Google and the ICT ministry, will see the provision internet connectivity to technical institutions in the country.
While speaking in Bondo, ICT PS Jerome Ochieng noted that they had identified TVET institutes set to benefit from the project.
They include Kisumu National Polytechnic, Meru National Polytechnic, The Kenya Coast National Polytechnic, Eldoret Polytechnic among others.
Ochieng said the adoption of internet learning across the institutions had been hastened by the learning disruptions occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The improved internet infrastructure in the technical institutions will ensure trainees have the desired technical technology,” said Ochieng.
He thanked Google for sponsoring the connectivity project to 87 institutions in the country at a cost of Ksh. 500 million.
“The high speed internet connectivity in health facilities will not only improve efficiency in service delivery but will also make referrals of patients across all levels easier,” the PS observed.
He revealed that the department had kick started a similar project in law courts and hospitals.
“If all hospitals are connected through LAN, efficiency in our public hospitals will be improved. Patients will be spared the burden of carrying documents to their referral centers to get services” Ochieng explained.
He added that the availability of internet connectivity in hospitals will mark the dawn of telemedicine and save Kenyans millions of shillings by making them get treatment locally.
“Through telemedicine, local doctors will be able to consult doctors abroad in real time. If the necessary equipment is available in the country, our people will be spared the expense of having to spend millions of shillings in air fare going to seek treatment abroad” he said.
The PS revealed that currently 45 public hospitals in the country have been fitted with high speed connectivity as a result of the implementation of the Universal Health Coverage program by the government and that the completion of the on- going work in the nine facilities will take the tally to 54 by September this year.
