Senate moves to outlaw detention of patients over unpaid bills

The Senate Committee on Health, chaired by Vice Chairperson Senator Mariam Omar, has deliberated on the Health (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

The Bill sponsored by Nyamira Senator Okong’o Mogeni, seeks to outlaw the detention of patients and the bodies of deceased persons in health facilities over unpaid medical bills.

The Bill proposes amendments to the Health Act to prohibit any form of confinement by hospitals as a means of recovering debts, saying such practices violate constitutional and human rights protections.

According to Senator Mogeni, the proposed law gives effect to Articles 28, 29, and 39 of the Constitution, which guarantee the rights to human dignity, freedom and security of the person, and freedom of movement.

It also aims to align Kenya’s domestic legislation with international obligations, including Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

“We are providing alternative mechanisms for hospitals to recover their dues without infringing on basic human rights. No one should lose dignity simply because they cannot clear a hospital bill,” Senator Mogeni said during the committee session.

The committee noted that the continued detention of patients and the dead in hospitals was both inhumane and unconstitutional.

That the Bill provides a structured mechanism for debt recovery through legal and insurance channels rather than coercive practices.

The Senate’s move revives a long-standing debate previously raised in the National Assembly by Nyali MP Mohamed Ali.

In 2018, the MP then an Independent, sponsored a similar motion urging the government to declare the detention of patients and bodies over unpaid bills illegal.

In his contribution to the debate then, Mr Ali said detaining patients for lack of money amounted to punishing poverty and undermining human dignity.

“Our hospitals are meant to heal and comfort, not to hold people hostage because they are poor,” he said at the time.

He had called for a government fund to cushion public hospitals against unpaid debts.

The motion received wide bipartisan support and was backed by civil society groups, but it lapsed before it could be translated into law.

The current Senate Bill now seeks to entrench those proposals into the Health Act, potentially ending years of public outcry over the practice.