Kenyans could soon be able to access emergency treatment and healthcare services without first proving they can pay for the critical services.

This is among the proposals in the the Health (Amendment) Bill, 2024, sponsored by Kirinyaga Woman Representative Jane Njeri Maina.

The Bill, which was passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday, November 11, also seeks to criminalise the action of public health facilities and healthcare providers in charge of healthcare facilities to detain the body of a deceased person as a means of enforcing settlement of outstanding medical bills.

According to MP Maina, this Bill has been necessitated by the need to resolve the problem of patients or their relatives/kin having to pay medical fees and/or admission fees prior to their admittion to a facility and treatment.

“The Bill seeks to resolve the problem of patients or their relatives having to pay medical fees prior to admission and treatment,” said Hon. Maina, adding that the amendments aim to uphold the constitutional right to health and human dignity.

The Bill, which shall occasion additional expenditure of public funds, is proposing to broaden the definition of emergency medical treatment, to include; pre-hospital care, stabilising the health status of the individual, or arranging for referral in cases where the health provider of first call does not have facilities or capability to stabilise the health status of the victim.

Any medical institution that fails to provide emergency medical treatment while having the ability to do so, the Bill dictates, will be deemed to have committed an offence, and will be liable upon conviction to a fine not exceeding KSh3 million.

If the Bill is enacted, a person in charge of a public health facility will have committed an offence if he or she detains the body of a deceased person for purposes of enforcing settlement of pending bills, and will be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding KSh2 million.

Who should pay the bills instead?

However, it is important to note that the Bill does not make emergency medical care free. It maintains that patients and their families still remain responsible for paying for medical services rendered.

The Bill only changes when and how the hospitals can collect the money for their services. The Bill maintains that hospitals are entitled to pursue payment through lawful means, but should not use the detention of patients or bodies as a debt-recovery strategy.

The Bill allows hospitals to enter into legally binding instalment payment arrangements with patients or their families.

It is also important to note that this Bill only covers public facilities, and not private facilities. According to MP Maina, this was decided after consultations with the Departmental Committee on Health during the Second Reading on February 11, 2026.

Legislation path

After getting the National Assembly greenlight, the Bill now proceeds to the Senate for consideration, before it can be presented to the President for assent.

After the presidential assent, public healthcare facilities will be obligated to comply with the provisions of the new law.

The inspiration

MP Maina once represented a family that was unable to retrieve the body of their relative for burial because of huge medical bills.

According to the legislator, who is a lawyer by profession, Kelvin — a former medical student who turned into the bodaboda business after lacking employment — died in a road accident. His body was held at a funeral home for almost a year, with the family forced to pay a bill of KSh1.42 million in order to collect the body.

It is stories like this that inspired MP Maina to come up with the Bill.