At least nine hospitals are under investigations after a local TV station released an expose showing patients and bodies detained at hospitals.
The Ministry of Health has constituted a team of investigators to look into the matter with a view to bring speculations to a close and getting culprits apprehended.
The investigations, which will also look into the detention of bodies over mortuary fees, will be carried out by a technical team set up by the Health Principal Secretary Susan Mochache and is expected to make recommendations within 10 days.
‘Detention’ hospitals
The hospitals being probed include Kenyatta National Hospital, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, the Nairobi Hospital, the Aga Khan University Hospital, Mater Hospital, National Spinal Injury Hospital, Mathari National Teaching Referral Hospital, Nairobi Women’s Hospital, and Nairobi West Hospital.
Authenticate claims
According to the PS, the ministry had to authenticate the detention claims and work on ways to provide solutions to such scenarios not to happen in the future.
“The team will establish the policies and mechanisms in place to deal with emergency admissions and patients who are unable to meet their bills at the time of discharge,” Mochache said.
This comes days after Citizen TV exposed how some 20 women were detained at the Kenyatta National Hospital on Monday.
Kenyatta Hospital
Reliable data indicated that Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has been detaining 184 patients and 387 bodies over Ksh 6 million debt.
The Ministry addressed the accumulation of patient bills in hospitals, asking relevant hospitals to waiver the arrears or enter into a credit facility.
Other hospitals detaining patients are Kakamega Referral Hospital with a total of 56 patients and Nakuru County Referral Hospital with 15 patients.
Kakamega Referral Hospital is owed Ksh3 million while Nakuru County Referral Hospital is owed Ksh 850,780.