Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has issued a stern warning to doctors employed in public hospitals who engage in private practice during official working hours, saying the practice amounts to fraud and will no longer be tolerated.
Speaking in Tharaka Nithi County, where he was hosted by Governor Muthomi Njuki to commission a new ultra-modern Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and an amenity wing at Chuka Level 5 Hospital, Duale said the trend has become rampant across government health facilities.
The CS noted that some doctors working in public hospitals deliberately redirect patients to private facilities where they also operate, while neglecting or denying services in the government institutions that pay their salaries.
“Doctors are being paid by the government to work between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., yet during those hours they are attending to patients elsewhere. That is fraud,” Duale said.
He announced that beginning January, strict measures will be introduced to punish doctors found working in private facilities during official hours, particularly those formally attached to specific public hospitals.
Duale cited Kenyatta National Hospital as an example, noting that despite having 26 fully equipped theatres and highly qualified specialists, patients are often given surgery or review dates several months away.
He alleged that some patients are later approached by assistants linked to the same doctors and offered immediate procedures at private facilities.
To curb the practice, the CS directed the Digital Health Authority to take firm action against any doctor registered to a public facility who submits insurance or digital health claims from a private hospital during government working hours.
Governor Njuki backed Duale’s remarks, accusing some doctors—whom he referred to as “extremely ambitious Gen Z doctors”—of holding multiple jobs purely for financial gain.
“They are using public hospitals as retention grounds to source patients for their private facilities,” Njuki said, adding that in some cases, county hospitals are better equipped than the private facilities patients are being referred to.
The governor argued that monetary incentives have led some doctors to deliberately undermine government facilities by denying them services and resources.
Duale also put doctors’ unions on notice, demanding accountability and warning that the continued practice of moonlighting during official hours will attract disciplinary action.
During the visit, the CS commissioned the first ICU of its kind in the region. The initial phase includes a five-bed capacity and two isolation units for critically ill patients. He also opened a new amenity ward designed to offer patients private-hospital-style services within a public health facility.
The developments are expected to significantly improve critical care services in Tharaka Nithi County and reduce the need for patient referrals outside the region.
