Watchdog shuts down 260 health facilities

The health watchdog has shut down 60 more hospitals in Nakuru County, bringing the number affected in a national crackdown to 260 in three weeks.

The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council (KMPDC) stated that it permanently closed 44 hospitals for gross violation of its guidelines, including defaulting on licence renewal and for not offering requisite services, while 16 had a partial closure.

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This comes barely a month after 46 health facilities in Mombasa County were shut down for operating illegally.

So far the government has inspected 1,305 facilities in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Meru, and Embu, including medical clinics, dispensaries, health centres, nursing homes, dental clinics, and faith-based centre hospitals.

“Apart from having expired samples and not following due process and procedure for samples that have been collected from patients, the other major issue is non-compliance to infection prevention and control procedure such as separation of disposal bins,” said David Kariuki, the Council’s chief executive.

The operation has also seen 60 health workers without licences arrested, a situation that signals a worrying state of the health sector.

According to KMPDC, more than 3,000 local practitioners were operating without a licence.

Many of the flagged practitioners, the council says, have been operating for 10-15 years without renewing practice permits.

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The council has further advised the public to seek services from registered practitioners and facilities.

It said the facilities’ registration status is verifiable through an SMS short code, 20547.

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