The government will regulate the referral of patients seeking treatment outside the country after MPs passed a law providing that such referrals be done on exhaustion of local options. Lawmakers conceded that the country’s healthcare system needs concrete policies for referrals, especially for treatment abroad. This, they said, would need the improvement of services at country-level hospitals and firm referral guidelines to refer patients abroad. Thousands of Kenyans travel abroad, largely India, South Africa, Germany and the UK, for specialised treatment, especially for terminal illnesses like cancer. Health CS Mutahi Kagwe, during the opening of the Kenyatta University Teaching and Referral Hospital’s Imaging Centre, said there was no point in people travelling abroad for cancer treatment.

Source: The Star March 03, 2021 16:07 UTC