Detaining patients or bodies over pending medical bills will soon be illegal, if MPs approve a proposed amendment to the Health Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018.
Nyando MP Jared Okelo has moved a raft of amendments to outlaw detention of bodies by hospital management, a very common act among health facilities in the country.
The proposed amendments apply to both public and private hospitals.
In a letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly seeking to introduce further amendments to the Bill, which is in second reading stage, the first time lawmaker wants a re-look for the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act 253 to compel any health personnel or facility pay up to Sh 5 million fine or serve a jail term of up to five years for detaining bodies or patients.
The proposed amendments, however, root for a mutually agreed arrangement of clearing any pending fee without resorting to detention of either the patient or the body by the hospital.
“No health institution in the country shall detain or otherwise cause, directly or indirectly, the detention of the body of a patient who died after or during treatment for reasons of nonpayment, in part or in full, of hospital bills or any other medical expenses,” reads part of the proposed amendments.
“Patients who have fully or partially recovered, and who are discharged or wish to leave health institutions but are financially incapable to settle their hospital bills or other medical bills shall be allowed to leave the health institution.”
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Okelo argued that continued detention of patients by hospitals infringe on fundamental rights and freedoms.
A study published by Chatham House’s Centre on Global Health Security in the UK last year ranked Kenya among the most notorious countries in detaining patients unable to settle medical bills.
It fell in the same ranks as DR Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
“Patient detention deters healthcare use, increases medical impoverishment, and is a denial of international human rights standards, including the right not to be imprisoned as a debtor and the right to access to medical care,” read part of the study findings.
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It noted that victims tend to be the poorest members of society, who have been admitted to hospital for emergency treatment. Many of them are subject to verbal or physical abuse while being detained in health facilities.
“At the root of this problem is the persistence of health financing systems that require people to make high out-of-pocket payments when they need healthcare, and inadequate governance systems that allow facilities to detain patients,” the report added.
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