[Hold for KRA comment] Medical lobby accuses the State of using KRA to cripple healthcare
The Kenya Medical Association (KMA) has accused the government of using the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) to cripple health services in the country.
KMA, a medical practitioners and dentists' lobby, claimed that KRA, through the introduction of the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS), was requesting hospitals to disclose private details of their patients.
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In the statement released by its president, Simon Kigondu, KMA warned that the directive would expose the public to prejudice in employment opportunities and the provision of public service.
“The introduction of the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) through the Finance Act, 2023 and in the public notice dated 07/11/2023, KRA is seeking to force Medical Practitioners to disclose patient data including patients’ names, sex, hospitalisation and treatment details to the Kenya Government through the KRA eTIMS system,” Kigondu alleged.
According to the association, the adoption of eTIMS by hospitals is a direct breach of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 which stipulates that the Bill of Rights applies to all laws and binds all State organs and all persons.
“The right to health is a fundamental human right guaranteed in the Constitution of Kenya but eTIMS is designed to cripple the provision of Medical Services in Kenya,” Kigondu cited Chapter IV of the Constitution in his argument.
He further cautioned that the illegal collection of patients’ data contravened the Data Protection Act, of 2019, and doctors were aware that offering critical information to KRA may subject them to fines of up to Kshs 5 million as stipulated by the law.
Kigondu further asked the public to be aware of other extraterritorial applications of the laws relating to data protection that can lead to administrative fines being imposed by foreign authorities.
“ETIMS implementation will expose Doctors to the dangers of these penalties because it is now forcing them to disclose confidential patient information. Implementation of the KRA eTIMS system is designed to cause doctors, hospitals and insurance companies to violate the law with impunity. This is unacceptable and no law that violates the Constitution can stand scrutiny,” KMA lamented via its President.
According to the association, the public sector, mainly through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and now the KRA eTIMS system has been manipulated to undermine and destroy the health service provision in the country to the detriment of the citizens' health rights.
Kigondu claimed that NHIF owes the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and other Nairobi County Public Hospitals over Ksh2 billion, affecting service provision. NHIF, he added, was unable to remit statutory payments from Civil Servants but was forcing hospitals to continue rendering unpaid services while KRA collected taxes on the unpaid funds.
The association warned that the cost of compliance in eTIMS adoption was unsustainable in a growing economy.
“Doctors will not accept the invoice as a basis for tax computation as the invoice is not an income in the Medical Services Sector where a multiplicity of payers both public and private prefer not to pay for services rendered,” says Kigondu.
If the eTIMS system is implemented in hospitals, doctors may only see patients who guarantee payment for the services offered. Kigondu argued that the approach would prevent doctors from remitting revenue to KRA from money owed by patients.
KRA has yet to respond to the allegations. The taxman launched the eTIMS to enable small-scale businesses to generate and transmit their invoices electronically.
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