A Section Of Health Union Members In A Past Event
A coalition of unions and professional associations in Kenya’s health sector has raised strong objections to the Draft Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill 2025, citing concerns over duplication, weak quality assurance mechanisms, and lack of stakeholder involvement.
In a joint press statement issued under the Health Sector Caucus, the unions criticized the Ministry of Health (MOH) for pushing legislation without adequate consultation with those directly involved in implementation.
“We, the Unions and Associations in health sector are concerned with the nature in which the MOH continues to develop legislations and policies without involving the relevant stakeholders especially those who represent the implementers,” the statement reads.
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The caucus warned that nearly 80% of the contents in the proposed bill are already covered by existing laws and policies, including the Health Act 2017, the National Policy on Patient Safety, and various professional regulatory acts.
They emphasized that instead of streamlining healthcare, the bill risks complicating it further.
“This bill will not change anything as far as quality of healthcare is concerned,” the unions noted, pointing out that effective monitoring and improvement of healthcare quality is already catered for in numerous legislative frameworks.
Among their major concerns were
Duplication and Confusion
“The bill will create confusion and duplication of roles by replicating other acts,” said the caucus, citing overlap with duties under the Health Act and Public Health Act.
Weak Quality Assurance Framework
The unions highlighted the danger of introducing a flawed quality assurance mechanism, stating
“The biggest problem that has affected quality of care with regard to health facilities has been the wrong designation of health facilities due to weak quality assurance mechanism which does not provide for verification.”
Interference with Development of Scopes of Practice
The proposed transfer of regulatory functions to the Director General was termed retrogressive.
“Councils and Boards are better placed to define and implement scopes of practice since they have diversity of members representing various fields,” the unions explained.
Duplication of Roles
Referring to a 2022 court ruling on the Health Act, the statement said:
“There is therefore no need to bring in another SAGA when KHQOA can be improved to serve its purpose.”
The health sector stakeholders are urging the Ministry to drop the bill and instead focus on enforcing and enhancing existing policies and regulations.
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They also reiterated the World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of quality healthcare as services that are effective, safe, people-centered, timely, equitable, integrated, and efficient standards that the current framework already supports.
The unions warned that continued duplication could erode service delivery, increase bureaucratic inefficiencies, and ultimately hurt patient care.
