Health Ministry warns public doctors against private practice during official hours, terms it fraud

Health CS Aden Duale during a high-level meeting chaired by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki at his Official Residence in Karen, Nairobi, on December 9, 2025. (Photo: X/Aden Duale)

By Lucy Mumbi
Tuesday, December 16, 2025

Duale said the trend has become so rampant that some doctors are referring patients from public hospitals to their private facilities, denying government institutions the revenue and attention they are owed.

Public health practitioners have been warned against engaging in private practice during official working hours, a practice Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said amounts to fraud and is undermining government health facilities.

Speaking on Tuesday at Chuka Level 5 Hospital in Tharaka Nithi, Duale said the trend has become so rampant that some doctors are referring patients from public hospitals to their private facilities, denying government institutions the revenue and attention they are owed.

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Duale, who was in the county under the invitation of Governor Muthomi Njuki to commission a new ultra-modern Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and a new amenity wing at the hospital, said that starting January, new measures will be introduced to punish doctors working elsewhere during official hours, particularly those attached to certain facilities.

Giving an example of Kenyatta National Hospital, Duale noted, “The facility has about 26 theatres with top-notch doctors, yet a patient would go there and is given a review or theatre date that is two months away, but is followed by another of the doctor’s assistants who proposes a theatre date or reviews the next day at a different facility.”

He also directed the Digital Health Authority to take stern action from January against any claims made by a doctor registered to a public facility yet practising in a private facility during office hours.

Governor Njuki supported the CS’s remarks, accusing some Gen Z doctors of being “extremely ambitious, but wanting many jobs to make more money.”

He said some doctors are using public facilities as “a retention ground” to generate patients for their private practices.

“In some cases, the facilities at the county level are better equipped than the ones the doctors are sending the patients to, but since there is a monetary drive, they would deny the government facilities resources,” Njuki said.

The governor has been raising concerns over the same issue since September. As CoG Health Committee chair, he flagged doctors who neglect county hospitals and divert patients to their private clinics.

“It is emerging that there are doctors who are shuttling patients between county facilities and their private facilities and, at times, charge them twice, as they seek to maximise profit or expect payments from the Social Health Authority (SHA),” he said.

During a surprise visit to Chuka Level 5 Hospital, Njuki found doctors absent and warned of disciplinary action. He ordered the release of a circular to hold doctors accountable and urged patients to report diversion cases anonymously.

He also called on the doctors’ union to act swiftly, noting that counties would not hesitate to take stern action against any violators.

“The heavy investment made in healthcare must be respected, and exploiting patients will not be tolerated,” Njuki said, stressing the importance of accountability.

The governor has now put all county doctors on notice and proposed a feedback mechanism to allow patients to anonymously report cases where they are referred to private clinics by the same doctors treating them at public facilities.

The ICU commissioned in Chuka is the first of its kind in the region, with a five-bed capacity and two isolation units for critically ill patients. The newly opened amenity ward will provide services comparable to those offered in private hospitals, giving patients upgraded care within the public system.