Nairobi County Hospital Denies Prisoners Treatment in Escalating Feud

Prisoners are facing uncertainty after the Mbagathi Hospital suspended services to the Kenya Prisons Service over an unpaid debt of more than Ksh12 million.
The hospital initially issued a notice dated August 4 to the KPS, informing the service that there would be no medical services offered to inmates until the outstanding bill was fully paid.
The debt stems from medical services offered since 2018, which have seen only part of the arrears settled. According to the hospital, only Ksh6.7 million has been paid so far.
In the wake of the ballooning debt, the Mbagathi Hospital management has opted to suspend services to inmates, arguing that continued provision of services under the circumstances had become financially unsustainable.
The hospital’s management further insists that repeated efforts to recover the debt from the KPS have proven futile.
One ripple effect of the arrears has been the facility’s inability to afford essential medications and other critical infrastructure needed to run a hospital of its calibre.
Talks have been ongoing between the KPS and Mbagathi Hospital. However, with no resolution in sight, the standoff has disrupted prisoner referrals to the hospital, forcing the KPS to seek alternative healthcare providers for prisoners.
The impasse has now led to a wave of uncertainty, particularly in the KFS, as the welfare of prisoners, especially those with chronic illnesses, remains uncertain.
This is the latest case of a government institution being caught up in a debt crisis, subsequently hampering service delivery. In 2024, data from the National Treasury showed that 28 state-owned enterprises defaulted on Ksh266.5 billion in Treasury-guaranteed loans, forcing the government to shoulder the liability.
To curb the trend, Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi in January revealed that parastatals which had amassed huge sums in pending bills would be blocked from accessing fresh debt.
Interestingly, despite grappling with debt,the KPS was found to be among the institutionswhich were suffering from systematic corruption by a recent report by theEthics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC).
The EACC found that money taken from inmates by prison officers often went untraced once inmates were released, posing concerns over possible misuse of funds.