Cabinet approves bill targeting unlicensed clinics, rogue medics

The Cabinet has approved the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025, a sweeping legislative proposal aimed at reforming the health sector by eliminating systemic corruption, unqualified facilities, and regulatory failure.

The endorsement was made during a Cabinet meeting chaired by President William Ruto at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday.

In the session, which focused on critical policy matters across health, infrastructure, energy, and youth empowerment, the Executive arm described the Bill as a response to “entrenched impunity and malpractices” that have long compromised healthcare delivery and undermined public trust.

The Bill proposes the establishment of a unified quality assurance framework and a powerful oversight agency dubbed the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Authority.

According to the Cabinet, the proposed authority will “enforce national care standards, oversee implementation, and monitor performance, where all health facilities, laboratories, and ambulance services will be subject to strict mandatory licensing, registration, and accreditation.”

“The Bill seeks to eliminate systemic fraud, regulatory loopholes, and conflicts of interest that have long undermined healthcare delivery and public trust. It responds to glaring gaps that have allowed unqualified and fraudulent health facilities to be licensed and to operate,” read the Cabinet despatch.

“This lack of clear standards, coupled with weak oversight and collusion among facilities, regulators, and practitioners, has left patients vulnerable and eroded accountability.”

The Cabinet noted that many of the health sector’s failures were often facilitated through collusion among regulators, facilities, and practitioners.

Among its provisions, the Bill introduces quality improvement plans at the facility level, enforces patient rights, and sets clear standards for emergency medical services.

The new Bill is also expected to “tackle the root causes of health sector corruption, protect patients, and deliver safe, effective, and high-standard healthcare”, aligned with the government’s universal health coverage goals.

The proposed legislation now moves to Parliament for debate and potential enactment.