I firmly oppose the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025 and calls upon Parliament to reject it in its entirety. This Bill does not solve a problem in the health sector. Instead, it creates duplication, expands bureaucracy, and imposes an additional financial and regulatory burden on already overstrained healthcare providers.
1. DUPLICATION OF EXISTING FUNCTIONS
The proposed “Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Authority” is not a novel solution. Instead it is a duplication of mandates already executed by existing institutions.
The Bill grants the Authority powers to:
• Register, license, accredit, and inspect health facilities (page 18–19)
• Monitor compliance and enforce standards (page 4–5)
These functions are already legally assigned to:
• The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC)
• Other professional regulatory bodies
• The Ministry of Health and County Governments
This is not reform. It is regulatory duplication disguised as innovation.
2. A “QUALITY AUTHORITY” THAT IS ACTUALLY A LICENSING AND TAXATION BODY
The Bill attempts to frame the Authority as a “quality” institution. However, its core powers expose its true nature:
• Licensing of facilities
• Accreditation certification
• Inspections and enforcement
• Power to charge fees for its services (page 20)
This is not quality improvement.
This is another licensing authority with revenue-collection powers.
Quality in healthcare is already measured using:
• Evidence-based clinical guidelines
• Accreditation systems such as SafeCare and Joint Commission International (JCI)
• Continuous professional development and peer review
The Bill conflates quality with licensing, which is conceptually flawed and operationally dangerous.
3. EXCLUSION OF HEALTH PROFESSIONALS: A DANGEROUS GOVERNANCE MODEL
The proposed Authority’s Board is dominated by government and political appointees, with no guaranteed representation of doctors or frontline healthcare providers (page 20).
This is unacceptable.
Healthcare quality cannot be regulated in the absence of those who deliver care.
We have already seen the consequences of such exclusion in:
• The Social Health Authority (SHA), where providers were brought in after systems were procured & designed to their disadvantage.
This Bill repeats the same mistake:
Design first. Exclude providers. Invite them later when decisions are already locked.
That is not governance. That is regulatory capture.
4. A BACKDOOR ATTEMPT TO CONTROL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS THROUGH FACILITIES
The Bill introduces a dangerous structural shift:
By placing facility licensing, accreditation, inspection, and enforcement under a politically controlled Authority, it effectively:
• Transfers control of medical practice from professionals to bureaucrats
• Allows indirect control of doctors through facility regulation
Let us be clear:
The practice of medicine cannot be separated from the facilities in which it is delivered.
Controlling facilities is controlling doctors.
This is a backdoor mechanism to subordinate professional autonomy to political and commercial interests.
5. INCREASED FINANCIAL BURDEN – TAXATION DISGUISED AS REGULATION
The Authority is empowered to:
• Charge fees
• Receive funds
• Generate revenue from providers (page 20)
This comes at a time when:
• Providers are struggling with SHA non-payments
• Healthcare facilities are burdened by loans and operational costs & exclusion from SHA contracts despite being contributors
• Doctors already face high taxation and compliance costs
This Bill is therefore:
Not about quality. It is about extracting more money from healthcare providers.
6. THE REAL PROBLEM IS NOT REGULATION – IT IS UNDER-FINANCING
Kenya does not have a quality problem because of lack of regulators.
Kenya has a quality problem because of:
• Underfunded health systems
• Weak inspection capacity due to lack of resources
• Poor reimbursement mechanisms
• Inadequate support to facilities
Historically, during NHSSP II (Kibaki era):
• Collaboration between MOH, regulatory bodies, and local governments
• Proper use of Facility Improvement Funds (FIF)
resulted in:
• Improved service delivery
• Increased internship centers
• Better system performance
That is the model that works—not creating new authorities.
7. FALSE NARRATIVE OF CONFLICT BETWEEN DOCTORS AND FACILITIES
The Bill is built on a flawed assumption – that there is a conflict between:
• Health professionals
• Health facilities
This is false.
Doctors and facilities are mutually dependent and aligned around one goal:
Delivering safe, high-quality patient care
The real threat to quality is:
• Political interference
• Tenderpreneurship in healthcare systems (IT, billing, procurement)
• Extraction of value from care without contributing to service delivery
FINAL DECLARATIONS
1. There is duplication of already existing regulatory functions
2. The proposed Authority is a licensing and revenue-collection body—not a quality institution
3. The Bill excludes healthcare professionals from governance
4. It creates a mechanism for political control of medical practice
5. It increases financial burden on already overtaxed providers
6. It fails to address the real issue: health system financing
CALL TO ACTION
Parliament must REJECT the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025 and instead focus on:
• Strengthening existing regulatory bodies
• Properly funding the health sector
• Ensuring provider-led governance
• Fixing health financing (including SHA)
IN CONCLUSION
You do not improve quality by creating another office. You improve quality by funding care, supporting providers, and strengthening systems. This Bill does none of that. It is duplication, it is control, and it is taxation disguised as reform. Parliament of Kenya must reject it.
Addendum
Download the bill
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hX0VrDeOSf-KfIMTAWZ10sGChn3N6Kwa/view?usp=sharing
Dr Simon kigondu is a Gynaecologist & Commentator on Health Policy