The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council on Friday, April 16, fined three healthcare facilities Ksh500,000 each for false advertisements.
The three facilities had advertised that they offer home-based Intensive Care for Covid-19 patients.
“We note that Intensive Care Unit (ICU) care caters for patients with severe or life-threatening illnesses or injuries which require constant care and supervision from a multi-disciplinary medical team,” the council in a statement noted.
In the statement, the council added that it was not possible to offer ICU care at home as the three had advertised.
The three healthcare facilities were ordered to pull down the advertisements and pay the fine within 14 days.
Following the incident, the council warned Kenyans to take extra caution when seeking medical attention.
“The council wishes to advise members of the public to take caution that the above-mentioned institutions have not been registered by any of the regulatory bodies and their advertisements are misleading and geared towards obtaining money by false pretense,” the statement read.
There is a shortage in the number of ICU beds available due to the increasing Covid-19 cases in the country,
An equipped ICU room should have an ICU bed with a flexible mattress, ventilators, uninterrupted oxygen supply and a blood gas analyser.
The room should also have a patient monitor, infusion pumps, defibrillator and trained critical care staff.
Hospitals in Kenya are getting overwhelmed by the number of patients in need of intensive care and this has led to some hospitals turning away patients.
