Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has finally moved to rein in rogue medics, announcing the creation of a special unit to exclusively deal with unlicensed and untrained individuals preying on unsuspecting patients.
In a hard-hitting warning, Duale said the Ministry of Health is setting up an anti-fraud police unit to tame the sharp rise of fake doctors and illegal clinics offering phoney health services across the country.
FRAUD IN SHA
The nationwide crackdown will target quack medics and unregistered facilities, with the special police unit working alongside officials from the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to enforce professional standards.
“We will crack the whip. We are planning to form an anti-fraud police unit to deal with fraud in SHA,” Duale said.
“If you are a quack doctor or a healthcare practitioner who is not licensed, I am telling them they better look for somewhere else where they can do quack business.”
The Health CS revealed that his ministry is also moving to digitise the healthcare system through a central dashboard that will list all licensed dentists, doctors and pharmacies, while flagging those operating illegally.
STRENGTHEN ENFORCEMENT
“The law is very clear: you cannot run a health clinic if you are not licensed by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council,” Duale said. “We are forming a multi-agency task force and increasing the council’s budget to strengthen enforcement.”
Duale’s announcement comes barely two weeks after the death of Amos Isoka, a patient who developed fatal complications following a botched tooth extraction at a quack dental clinic in Kawangware.
Isoka died on Wednesday evening at Kenyatta National Hospital, where he had been admitted with severe swelling of the neck, tongue and chest after the procedure.
In a rare intervention, Duale said he would personally direct KNH to waive all medical bills incurred by the deceased.
“Tomorrow morning, I will direct KNH to waive all the bills of our late brother, who was mishandled by the quack doctor. This is the same way we do when people are injured during protests or other tragic events,” he said.
SCOPE OF PRACTICE
The ministry is also preparing to roll out a new regulatory framework known as the “Scope of Practice”, aimed at ending what Duale described as dangerous grey areas in healthcare delivery.
“Once we launch the Scope of Practice, every health worker will only treat patients based on what they studied in college. No more grey areas,” he said.
Meanwhile, detectives from the Directorate of Criminal Investigations have returned to the illegal Kawangware clinic as investigations intensify. Police seized laboratory equipment, assorted drugs and an identification card bearing the name “Lowrence King’atua Kamau”.
Detectives have launched a manhunt for suspects linked to the illegal facility who are still at large, as pressure mounts on authorities to dismantle what has become a deadly underground health industry.
