The Health (Amendment) Bill, 2025
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Ban on Detaining Patients and Corpses
Inserts a new Section 7A(1) into the Health Act, making it illegal for any health facility to detain a patient or a patient's corpse as a lien over unpaid fees incurred for accessing services.
Offence for Facility Administrators
Under Section 7A(2), any person in charge of a health facility who violates the prohibition against detaining patients or corpses commits an offence.
New Fee Recovery Regulations
Section 7A(3) permits the Cabinet Secretary responsible for health to develop and implement official regulations for recovering unpaid health service fees.
Bill No.
Senate Bill No. 12 of 2025
Gazette No.
Supplement No. 120 of 2025
Sponsor
Mogeni Erick Okong'o
Background
Under current practices, some health facilities resort to detaining patients or withholding the corpses of deceased patients until outstanding medical fees are paid. The Bill seeks to align the Health Act with domestic court rulings and international human rights instruments—such as Article 28 (human dignity) and Article 39(1) (freedom of movement) of the Constitution of Kenya—which view the detention of individuals for civil debt as unlawful and unconstitutional.
Key Amendments
- Insertion of Section 7A: Amends the principal Health Act (Cap. 241) to introduce a new section directly after Section 7 to address the detention of patients and patient corpses.
New Obligations
- Health Facilities: Must release patients and patient corpses regardless of outstanding bills, prohibiting the use of human bodies or liberty as a lien for unpaid medical service fees.
- Cabinet Secretary: Responsible for developing and issuing statutory regulations to govern the recovery of unpaid fees from patients through legal, non-detention mechanisms.
Penalties
- Facility Administrators: Any person in charge of a health facility who contravenes the non-detention provisions commits a criminal offence under Section 7A(2).
No updates tracked yet
Updates will be visible here once they are approved and applied to this bill.