Taxpayers To Spend 4.8 Billion To Save Poor Patients From Detention

A proposal was tabled in parliament to end the detention of patients unable to pay their hospital fee and bodies whose morgue fees are not paid.

According to the proposers of the bill, the detention of patients and/or bodies have been the cause of pain for a number of Kenyan families, and for this reason, the bill will require that 4.8 billion shillings are set aside every year.

The money will be allocated to referral hospitals and all public hospitals in all the 47 counties so that they (The hospitals) do not incur losses caused by the release of patients and bodies whose hospital bills will not have been paid.

Nyando MP, Jared Okello was tasked with making an analysis of the costs to be looked forward to in case the bill is passed into law.

In the analysis, that was tabled to the National Assembly by the Parliamentary Budget Office, it was estimated that the whole cost of implementing the bill will add up to 4.8 billion.

It was said that all the 47 counties would get an additional 50 million shillings annually as additional grants while the cost of the amendment will be 4.15 billion shillings, bringing the whole amount to an estimated 4.8 billion shillings.

With the current economy and most Kenyans living below the poverty line, the cost analyst figured that every month a patient may require an average amount of 150,000 shillings upon discharge and at least 1000 patients may lack the capacity to pay the bills.

Even as the national assembly seeks to amend the bill contained in the Health (Amendment) Bill, 2019, there arose the question of people taking advantage of the situation.

The budget office acknowledged that there could be people who, despite being able to foot their hospital bills or morgue bills for their loved ones, will opt not to pay.

It may also come as a disadvantage to hospitals as in the event that the bills are not paid, the hospital administration will have to go through the tedious processes of going to court to recover their money, as opposed to the ‘easy’ way of withholding patient, their documents, and bodies.

The parliament had once ordered the release of 184 patients and 387 bodies held illegally at Kenyatta National Hospital.

As at now, reports from the Ministry of Health to parliament early this year revealed that 300 patients and 391 bodies are withheld in 11 public hospitals, with bills amounting to 6.7 billion shillings.