• Medical board says by calling herself the best, Dr Jyotee Trivedy broke KMPDB's 2016 advertising rules.
• Medic, a former employee of Lion Eye Hospital, admits misdemeanour
An eye hospital in Nairobi has been fined Sh700,000 for misleading the public by calling itself the "best".
The owner was also reprimanded for openly purporting to be the "best" eye doctor in radio advertisements.
The newly established Dr Agarwal Eye Hospital was fined for the offensive advertisements that are on billboards around Nairobi.
The Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board said the use of the word "best" denigrated other eye hospitals, implying they are not up to standard.
KMPDB added that by calling herself the "best", Dr Jyotee Trivedy, who runs the hospital, broke the board's 2016 advertising rules.
Rule 3 (c) requires that an advertisement should be objective, true and dignified.
It should also be respectful of the ethics of the profession and should not attempt to denigrate other practitioners or health institutions or the profession.
"An advertisement made under these rules shall not attempt to denigrate other health practitioners or health institutions or the profession," KMPDB boss Daniel Yumbya says in a letter to Trivedy.
The medic is a former employee of Lion Eye Hospital who partnered with India's Dr Agarwal chain of hospitals to found the Nairobi clinic last year.
Appearing before the board on March 8, Trivedy admitted calling herself the "the best eye doctor in Kenya" through adverts on Sound Asia Radio on May 13, 2018.
The board says Trivedy also broke Rule 5(1) which says "a practitioner or health institution shall not provide information that creates or is likely to create unrealistic or unwarranted expectations about the effectiveness of the health services offered."
The accusations came after the Ophthalmological Society of Kenya last year wrote to the board complaining over the flurry of misleading advertisements.
Some of the adverts claimed there was no longer need to travel to India because the "best" eye doctor was now available in Kenya.
"The society, through its chair Dr Muchai Gachago, requested for an inquiry into the advertising strategy adopted by Dr Agarwal Hospital," says a letter by KMPDB CEO, seen by the Star.
"It was as if we don't exist. Kenyans usually don't travel to India for eye operations because we have enough specialists around," said one doctor who declined to be named.
Trivedy has since pulled down the adverts.
"We, hereby, acknowledge receipt of your letter dated March 20, 2019, and the attached cheques issued in compliance with order (III) and order No (IV)," Yumbya says in a letter to Trivedy.
The hospital also submitted new artworks for new advertisements, which have been approved by the board.