- A fully licensed facility will all the set requirements in terms of equipment and medical staff among others to ensure quality medical services.
- The revelations are contained in the latest audit report for KMPDU for the period ended June 30, 2023.
Kenyans could be getting substandard services in health facilities scattered across the country, after it emerged more than 9,000 of them are unlicensed.
A new report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu shows that the facilities are not licensed by the regulator, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists’ Council.
“Review of the KMPDC database provided for audit and available in KMPDC website revealed that out of the 16,527 registered health facilities in the year 2023, only 7,518 or 46 per cent complied with the licensing rules,” the report states.
This means that some 9,009 or 56 per cent of all the health facilities are not licensed, triggering concerns about the standard of services offered.
A fully licensed facility should have all the set requirements in terms of equipment and medical staff, among others, to ensure quality medical services.
The revelations are contained in the latest audit report for KMPDU for the period ended June 30, 2023.
According to the report, most unlicensed facilities are national and county government dispensaries and hospitals.
Ironically, the law provides that national and county-owned facilities get their annual licenses free-of-charge.
However, the facilities have not undertaken the process of being licensed contrary to Section 15(2) of the Medical Practitioners and Dentists Act, 2012.
The Act provides that the Council, where satisfied that the applicant meets the requirements, shall register the facility as an approved health institution.
“In addition, there was no evidence to show efforts being made to ensure that the government facilities comply with the licensing rules for registration,” the report reads.
Further, the audit fingered KMPDC for failing to pay pending bills amounting to Sh5.47 million.
This comprises Sh53.17 million owed to Kenya Revenue Authority in respect of Pay As You Earn (PAYE) and Sh53.47 million outstanding in respect of goods and services supplied.
“Failure to settle bills during the year to which they relate distorts the financial statements and adversely affects the budgetary provisions for the subsequent year as they form a first charge,” the report states.
KMPDC is mandated to regulate, train, practice and licence medicine, dentistry and healthcare institutions.
These include private and mission hospitals, medical, dental centres and clinics.
It also regulates maternity homes and stand-alone funeral homes.
In the past, the Council has closed several facilities for not meeting the set standards.
In March this year, 80 facilities in Kajiado county were shut down over noncompliance to licensing regulations.
“Some of the facilities closed were operating below the stipulated standards, others were either unregistered or unlicensed, while others had employed persons that were unregistered or unlicensed,” KMPDC Chief Executive Officer David Kariuki said.
In 2023, KMPDC closed down 75 facilities in Narok and 60 in Nakuru.
Earlier, it has closed down 46 health facilities in Mombasa county for operating unlawfully.
“KMPDC in collaboration with the County Government of Narok and the DCI conducted an inspection of health facilities in Narok county from November 6 to November 10, 2023,” the Council had stated.
Kariuki had said that 260 hospitals out of 1305 facilities inspected in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Meru and Embu have been closed for failing to comply.