The ministry of health has called for the shutting down of 811 unregistered medical facilities across the country.
The ministry of health through the Director-General for Health Dr. Wekesa Masababi sent a letter containing the order to have all unregistered health facilities to all county health executive committee members through the chair of Council of Governors (CoG) Wycliffe Oparanya.
According to the letter, the facilities did not meet the required minimum of licensing by the ministry of health and were therefore considered illegal businesses.
“The 811 clinics and dispensaries have failed to meet the required standards. I, therefore, request you (governors) to facilitate health management teams in your counties to have them comply,” read part of the letter.
The ministry of health further notes that until these facilities comply with the regulations put in place, they would be completely out of the market as a measure to protect Kenyan patients from receiving services from quacks.
With the many privately owned healthcare facilities in the country, it is feared that Kenyans may be exposed to unqualified doctors, which is dangerous to the unsuspecting members of the public.
The decision to shut down facilities was as a result of a crackdown that was conducted between February and August, which covered at least 6,000 hospitals out of the 12,000 registered and licensed facilities.
According to Dr. Wekesa (Director-General for Health), the crackdown was based on the kind of services rendered in the facilities, the health infrastructure, and personnel minimum standard.
About 37 counties have been affected by the closures, with Nairobi leading with 108 privately owned healthcare facilities closed.
Kisii County was second as 104 facilities closed while other counties affected such as Mombasa, Kirinyaga, Kakamega, Migori, Embu, and Kajiado had minimal closure.
In Tharaka Nithi, Wajir, Turkana and Lamu counties, only one healthcare facility was found to be unregistered in each of the counties.