Kenyans were more than appalled when the NHIF saga was exposed showing how inhuman graft criminals at the top are that they would mess with poor people’s health without hesitation.
Recent expose yet a gain has revealed a dark criminal activity that is carried out by doctors in a desperate move for their own survival.
Several doctors have admitted to authorizing needless tests just to earn commissions during a meeting chaired by officials of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU).
One radiologist revealed that most of the private practitioners are forced to prescribe tests that were needless from a medical standpoint.
The medic went on to reveal that some testing facilities have a policy of offering commissions whenever patients were referred to their establishments as a huge motivator.
“That is why you get a two-year-old with Computerized Tomography (CT) scans they do not really need, we get people doing many tests on patients that are unnecessary,” the practitioner revealed.
In their defence, the private practitioners vented their frustrations towards insurance firms.
They accused these firms of delaying payments meant for private clinics.
One doctor went on to explain how they are forced to wait for months and sometimes years for reimbursements in silence, as any complaints laid against the insurance firms are construed as hostile leading to a drop in patient referrals.
Insurance firms are known to recommend which hospitals and doctors their clients should visit.
This has given them the upper hand as they can deny them business at will thus forcing doctors to come up with crafty ways to stay in business, such as bribery.