The Nairobi County Assembly’s Health Services committee has revealed that thousands of health facilities are merely operating to gain profit.
A report by the committee has revealed that out of the 9,043 health facilities across the county, only 1,079 were registered and licensed to operate.
This means that a whopping 7,964 health facilities are in business illegally and that most Nairobi residents, especially those in informal settlements, could be getting health services from ‘quacks’.
“City Hall launched a crackdown on health facilities in collaboration with regulatory boards and councils in the country between December 5 and 7, 2018, inspecting 147 health facilities,” said committee chair and Roysambu MCA Peter Warutere.
The report resulted from concerns raised by MCAs Francis Ngesa and Joseph Wambugu, who said they were perturbed by the increase in the number of illegal health facilities in the city.
In his response, Mr Warutere said his team was up to task and would work with the Executive to ensure unlicensed and unregistered health facilities were shut down.
The respective regulators of such cases include the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board, the Nursing Council of Kenya, Clinical Officers Council, the Laboratory and Radiology boards and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board.
“The officers are in the process of being gazetted as joint health inspectors,” the committee said, adding that others were on the ground for verification and corrective measures in terms of compliance.