KRA gives Nairobi Women's Hospital blackout

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has suspended Nairobi Women’s Hospital from its list of approved medical care providers.

In a memo dated February 5, 2020, the taxman told its staff that the directive took effect immediately.

“Nairobi Women’s has been suspended from the KRA list of approved medical service provider with immediate effect. This suspension will stand until such a point where the contentious issues between the Authority and the hospital are resolved conclusively,” Deputy Commissioner HR Mukuriah Nelson said.

He added that the staff were advised to access medical services from other approved providers.

Nairobi Women’s woes

The hospital has been in the limelight following recent claims that its doctors forced patients to undertake unnecessary procedures.

A leaked Whatsapp conversation revealed alleged ‘strategies’ that the facility used to meet their revenue targets.

Among the claims is that doctors allegedly admitted patients who do not necessarily require to be admitted and delayed discharging patients unnecessarily to allow more time to meet the targets.Private health insurers suspended services with Nairobi Women’s Hospital on February 5, following allegations of cost inflation at the facility.

The Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) said the indefinite suspension would remain as a “thorough review” on quality and costs of the hospital’s services is conducted.

“All medical insurers have from February 5, 2020 suspended Nairobi Women’s Hospital from their list of accredited service providers. This follows recent accusations made in the media against the institution,” said AKI in a statement.

The regulator said the suspension would not affect insured customers already admitted to the hospital.

“Billing and settlement of expenses incurred by these customers will not be affected,” said AKI.

AKI in a meeting with the Chief Executives of the insurance companies on Monday noted that there are several administrative issues concerning the hospital which disadvantaged insured customers.

“This is contrary to the interest of medical insurers which is to ensure that customers get the best services at competitive rates,” said AKI.

“The medical environment has many players, including doctors, pharmacists, laboratories, imaging services, among others. For medical insurance to make sense, each of these players has to give the best service at the most reasonable rates. This is, however, far from the reality on the ground.”

Seven insurance companies have withdrawn their services with the facility. They include Jubilee, Britam, UAP, AAR, APA, CIC and GA Insurance.

Nairobi Women’s Hospital has said it was conducting an internal review on the allegations along with an independent one by the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentist Council.