38 facilities closed as board widens inspection

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board(KMPDB) has closed 38 health facilities this year.

These were among 191 facilities the board had inspected in Nairobi area alone. Only facilities that had met basic operation criterion were left to continue operating. “Inspections are continuous exercises that we conduct. We do them to keep the public safe from quacks and health facilities that are not properly equipped to provide quality healthcare to the public,” said Daniel Yumbya, the board’s CEO.

KMPDB, says Yumbya, will continue with inspectionscountrywide. It inspects 1,000 facilities on average annually.

Data detailing health facilities that have been inspected so far comes in the wake of the death of a seven-month-old baby at Shalom Community Hospital in Machakos.

Baby Ethan was injected with 20mg of morphine instead of the recommended 1mg. The baby became drowsy and later died.

The medical board has since revoked the practicing permit for the facility, forcing it shut as investigations continue.

According to Yumbya, KMPDB took such action since the facilities did not meet even one requirement from a list developed through policies governing provision of healthcare in East Africa.

Notable among the 38 facilities were The Nairobi Hospital Southfield clinic (Embakasi South), Taneet Medical Spa (Westlands), and Family Health Options Kenya (in Eastleigh).

Some of the facilities were operating without licensing. Some had not completed registration processes yet had already began offering services to the public. Others like Taneet were being run by foreign doctors.

“By law, foreign doctors who come into the country can only practice under employment and cannot operate private practice,” Yumbya said.