Medical services are quite expensive in Kenya hence Kenyans have to pay through their skin to ensure they access the best healthcare attention, however, a fresh expose’ by Daily Nation has revealed that health providers are inflating bills to ‘steal’ from unsuspecting patients.
Among the top three ways hospitals use to fleece Kenyans include; excess diagnostic tests, exaggerated prescriptions and unnecessary admissions.
One of the doctors in a private clinic revealed to the Daily Nation that, their superiors have given them monthly financial targets that they should meet, hence forcing them to resort to creative yet corrupt means so as to realise the targets.
“Some of these targets run up to millions of shillings per month. So the doctors are forced to order laboratory tests and prescribe unnecessary medicines. In addition, they are quick to admit patients even when the patient is in no need of further observation. The goal is to make as much money as possible from the patient,” he said.
One of the creative means includes procuring more than one physician for the task even though the doctor is not required for the exercise since he is just surplus but his/her presence means more money to pay.
“A typical uncomplicated delivery will be attended to by a gynecologist, pediatrician and a neonatal specialist, even in cases where it is clear that not all these people need to be present,” he said.
Hospitals are also charging patients for services they have not offered for instance a patient was charged for an ultrasound yet that hospital has no such machines.
In other cases, patients are forced to undergo blood and urine tests for straightforward coughs and afterward are saddled with drug prescriptions a mile long.