Nairobi Women’s Hospital Cleared Of Any Wrongdoing By KMPDC

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council has cleared the Nairobi Women’s Hospital of all overcharging allegations, confirming that the Hospital’s fees are in line with industry benchmarks.

The Council, however, provided a number of recommendations aimed at improving information management and business communications across the institution, which the Hospital wholly embraces.

The findings by the KMPDC are likely to elicit more reactions online following allegations that Nairobi Women’s Hospital was overcharging patients by forcing them to overstay at the facility.

The Council’s findings include:

There is no evidence of overcharging at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital or any instances
where the fees charged were above the recommended rates provided in the Medical
Practitioners and Dentists (Professional Fees) Rules, 2016.

The Hospital’s senior management team must better manage, direct and/or correct the
nature of communications and language used across all formal business
communications.

The Nairobi Women’s Hospital has systems in place addressing outpatient, admissions
and discharges.

KMPDC wants Nairobi Women’s Hospital to enhance the incorporation of doctors in the senior leadership
team to offer medical guidance; put in place an appropriate policy of information management and reviewing all business communications protocols, and using only appropriate language in any correspondence.

“The health and needs of our patients always have been and always will be our priority,” said Dr. Sam Thenya, founder of the Nairobi Women’s Hospital. “It was important to open our hospitals to an independent review, and we thank the Council for their detailed assessment and feedback. We will comply with all of their recommendations, as well as implement further improvements to ensure we are continuing to provide the highest quality service to our patients.”

In addition to the Council’s inquiry, the Board of the Nairobi Women’s Hospital engaged an independent firm to review the hospital’s policies and practices and make recommendations for further enhancing the quality of patient care. Building on the Council’s recommendations, the Nairobi Women’s Hospital will immediately undertake the following actions to build on its current quality standards:

Review the company’s governance structure to ensure that clear and effective communication lines are maintained and that the existing quality control functions within the Hospital has a second line of reporting directly to the Board.

Implement a training program to raise awareness of the Hospital’s compliance policies and procedures, its focus on delivering quality healthcare at an affordable price, and its existing whistleblowing procedures.

Update internal reporting protocols to ensure comprehensive monitoring of all admissions and discharges.

Regularly assess the proportion of Medical Doctors and Clinical Officers across the
Hospital, so as to guide the organization on the ethics of good clinical practice.

“We are committed to tackling this matter in a manner that lives up to the long-standing trust that the authorities, the regulators, the insurance companies, the medical community, and the patients have placed in us,” said Dr. Thenya. “We will continue to do everything in our power to provide the best possible healthcare to our patients at the most affordable prices.”