PS Reveals How Hospitals Overcharge Patients for Painkillers

Principal Secretary for the State Department of Medical Services, Ministry of Health, Ouma Oluga, has exposed private hospitals for defrauding Kenyans seeking medical services and medicines.
Speaking during a radio interview on Tuesday, August 26, the PS revealed that some private hospitals are prone to overpricing services, including the cost of medicines and standard scans offered at the facilities.
Oluga gave an example of the common painkiller ‘Panadol’, revealing that private hospitals procure the medicine for Ksh30 but end upselling it to patients at Ksh1,500.
‘’The fraud in medical facilities in Kenya is anything between 20-35 per cent, and it happens in small and big ways. For example, small ways include buying Panadol, where the Panadol costs Ksh30, but you charge Ksh1,500 in the hospital. It happens all the time, in the private sector,’’ Oluga explained.
“You find that the CT scan costs Ksh16,000, but the hospital is charging Ksh35,000 for the same service; that is criminal, and that’s why we are cracking down on these facilities,” he continued.
The PS revealed that the systemic nature of the problem is leaving Kenyans with the burden of bearing inflated medical costs.
“The level of overcharging is unacceptable. Basic healthcare services are being exploited, and it is our duty to ensure citizens are not defrauded,” the PS continued.
According to Oluga, the issue has become so rampant within private hospitals that the Ministry is currently clamping down on most of them, while continuing to ensure that the cost of medical services in the country decreases.
‘’So far, we haveclosed down 728 facilities,both private and public, but mostly the ones guilty of this are private hospitals. We have also downgraded 301 facilities, largely public, because most of them were upgraded politically,’’ the PS continued.
The PS went further to expose hospitals for registering services they do not offer, despite receiving funding.
“Most hospitals open facilities, submit a trained doctor’s CV, submit nurses’ CVs, provide good medical facilities, and after registration, all the facilities, nurses, and doctors leave. So the inspectors are not wrong; what was documented as having been available is no longer available,” the PS continued.
Oluga confirmed that the Ministry of Health, in coordination with the Social Health Authority (SHA), is conducting more audits and strengthening oversight of hospitals to ensure services are streamlined across all facilities.