If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident or suffer a snakebite, especially in rural Kenya, you can only hope the nearest health facility is adequately equipped. Otherwise, you risk facing prolonged illness, permanent disability, or even death.

This is because most hospitals in Kenya are ill-equipped to handle emergencies, from lacking basic medicines to having qualified medical professionals.

For instance, the 2023 Health Facilities Census found that only 5.8 per cent of all health facilities had accident and emergency units, while 49 per cent of facilities had access to an ambulance.

Furthermore, less than half of the facilities offered maternity services, and only a third of these facilities offered emergency obstetric care.

Although most facilities had sufficient delivery beds and delivery packs, critical gaps remained; only 40 per cent offered blood transfusion services, and just 54 per cent had a reliable source of oxygen.

These gaps exist because there is underfunding, primarily from the national and county governments in the healthcare sector.

The private sector, through for-profit or non-profit facilities such as those operated by faith-based organisations, has come to fill these gaps.

Still more needs to be done.

Given the above environment, why would the government want to introduce additional regulation through the proposed Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025, that would make it harder to invest in health facilities, which are critical to giving Kenyans access to quality healthcare.

While the proposed Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025, aims to reform healthcare regulation by promoting safer care and greater accountability, it risks doing more harm than good.

One of the biggest drawbacks of the proposed law is the heavy compliance burden it will place on facility operators.

A central feature of the Bill is the establishment of a new Authority tasked with registering, licensing, inspecting, accrediting, and rating health facilities.

These functions, however, are already actively handled by regulators such as the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC), the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, and the Medical Laboratory Technicians and Technologists Board.

Furthermore, operators will have to comply with the Digital Health Agency (DHA). The proposed new regulations will mandate that health facilities include details of a DHA-certified solution for licensing.

While digital integration is beneficial, this new requirement imposes an additional cost and bureaucratic layer.

The DHA’s operational capacity and public visibility are currently unclear, raising concerns that this will delay approvals and escalate financial pressure, especially for smaller health facilities.

It gets worse. The proposed penalties are draconian. The bill proposes hefty fines of up to Sh50 million for healthcare facilities and imprisonment of up to 10 years for providers due to neglect or unsafe conditions.

While these measures aim to enforce accountability, they could strain smaller or underfunded facilities, particularly in rural areas, which may lack the resources to meet stringent standards.

Strict penalties may also lead to defensive medicine, where providers prioritise avoiding liability over patient-centred care, potentially increasing costs and reducing care quality.

Investors may have to ask whether the juice is worth the squeeze. This would set the government’s noble ambitions of Universal Health Coverage back.

The drafters of the bill should instead look at areas that can be strengthened to ensure we increase access to quality healthcare, including.

Kenya’s healthcare system already faces challenges like understaffing and limited equipment.

The bill’s ambitious goals for patient safety and quality care may not be fully achievable without addressing these systemic issues, potentially rendering some provisions unrealistic.

Let us have a sober and candid discourse on how we can improve access to quality healthcare before introducing more stringent laws that could have dire consequences for the sector.

The writer is an accountant and comments on economic issues.