Medical Practitioners to Advertise their Services

Kenyan doctors have a reason to smile starting next month as they will have the freedom to advertise their services.

This is in an effort to encourage Kenyans who usually seek medical attention from foreign countries after a discovery was made that more than Sh.10 billion is lost annually on foreign hospitals.

The Chief executive officer of Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board (KMPDB) Daniel Yumbya said that most of the medical attention sought from outside can still be treated in the country, therefore the need for creation of awareness.

Yumbya stated that the current medical profession’s ethics is against the advertisement of any medical service by any medical practitioner, adding that this has led to great losses in the medical field.

The country has many qualified doctors who can be in a position to attend to the same critical ailments that Kenyans go for in other countries. The contents on the adverts will include prices on different specialized treatments.

Medical practitioners will also make themselves known to people and where they are located, so that they can be reached easy. All these is aimed at promoting the Kenyan medical sector. It was disclosed that many cancer treatment equipment in some of the private and public hospital remain idle since there are no patients to be attended to.

The move is also after kicking out the many herbalists who have taken over the medical sector with their advertisements claiming to cure all kinds of diseases and family problems. They tend to brainwash people’s minds by their false promises of making the poor rich and healing chronic diseases, yet they are after stealing money from the desperate Kenyans.

Recently, it was disclosed that there are over 880 doctors from both private and public hospitals carrying out advertisements for foreign hospitals in the country. The doctors encourage their patients to go for medication in those countries, claiming that they cannot be treated in the country due to shortage of specialized equipment and facilities.

Out of 9,954 registered medical doctors in the country, KMPDB records showed that only 4,219 of them are active. This is said to be a result of lack of motivation to the doctors, and some of them have even ventured into other fields that seem to give returns more that the medical sector.

Article by Vera Shawiza.