Kenya reached a major milestone in national emergency healthcare on Wednesday with the official launch of the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre the country’s first centralized emergency medical dispatch platform designed to serve all 47 counties.
H.E. President Dr. William Samoei Ruto presided over the landmark ceremony at the Social Health Authority (SHA) headquarters in Nairobi. He was accompanied by Cabinet Secretary for Health Hon. Aden Duale, alongside senior national and county leaders.
Accessible nationwide through the SHA 922 Lifeline, the new Centre will centralize ambulance dispatch, streamline communication between first responders and receiving health facilities, manage patient referrals, and ensure timely access to critical care across the country.
The state-of-the-art platform integrates emergency call management and clinical triage for rapid evaluation of incoming calls, a point-of-care mobile application enabling ambulance crews to securely transmit real-time patient data en route, and an incident management system connected to the National Health Information Exchange so receiving facilities can prepare prior to arrival.
Over 200 ambulances accredited by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) have already been onboarded into the national network, with additional public and private service providers set to join. Operations are managed by a specialized team of 40 trained medical doctors, medical officers, emergency dispatch officers, and customer service specialists.
To immediately bolster emergency response capacity in underserved regions, President Ruto also flagged off seven Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulances. These specialized vehicles have been deployed to Nairobi, Wajir, Turkana, Lamu, Mandera, Nyeri, and Kapenguria to broaden access to critical and emergency care.
The establishment of the National Ambulance Dispatch Centre directly advances Kenya’s emergency, critical, and operative care agenda by significantly reducing response times and improving referral pathways across the entire continuum of healthcare.
The launch event was hosted by Social Health Authority CEO Dr. Mercy Mwangangi and attended by Principal Secretaries Dr. Ouma Oluga, Ms. Mary Muthoni, and Eng. John Tanui; Director-General for Health Dr. Patrick Amoth; Nairobi Governor H.E. Johnson Sakaja; Council of Governors (CoG) Chairperson H.E. Ahmed Abdullahi; CoG Health Committee Chairperson H.E. Abdulswamad Sheriff Nassir; National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health Chairperson Hon. Dr. James Nyikal; Senate Standing Committee on Health Chairperson Sen. Jackson Mandago; Kenya Red Cross Society Secretary General Ahmed Idris; executives from national referral hospitals, key development partners, and county health authorities.
