The unions have instead demanded that the Health Act 2017 be amended.
The unions in a statement on Wednesday cited lack of involvement by the Ministry of Health in the development of the legislation and policies.
The union identified several issues with the Bill, including what they termed as duplication and confusion, weak quality assurance framework, interference with development of scopes of practice and interference with the development of scopes of practice.
“The Bill will create confusion and duplication of roles by replicating other Acts such as rights and duties under the Health Act and Public Health Act provisions, among many others,” Health Sector Caucus chairperson, Peterson Wachira noted.
According to the unions, wrong designation of health facilities due to a weak quality assurance mechanism, which does not provide for verification, has been the biggest problem that has affected quality of care.
"This bill still retains this problem where one entity registers, licenses and accredits facilities which has led to corruption and the consequent poor quality of health," they said.
Wachira said this is because facilities were allocated erroneous levels that neither matched their resources nor capacity due to lack of an independent verification system.
In the statement, the unions noted that the real issues that threaten the quality of healthcare currently include inadequate budgetary allocation to health, staff shortage, service disruption from perennial strikes, and poor digital infrastructure.
The other issues included demoralisation and demotivation of health workers, poor coordination between national and county governments, political interference and over-legislation without the required implementation.
"We demand that the government develop a framework for annual employment of 12,000 health workers in line with Kenya’s Human Resources for Health Commitments at the 2013 Third Global WHO HRH Forum in Brazil."
The Health Act, 2017 aimed to establish a unified national health system, coordinate health services between national and county governments and regulate healthcare services, providers, products and technologies.
It emphasized the right to health and the progressive realization of this right, including reproductive healthcare and emergency medical treatment.
The proposed Patient Safety Bill, 2025, aimed to actualise Article 43(1)(a) of the Kenyan Constitution, which guarantees every person the right to the highest attainable standard of health.
This included the right to healthcare services, including
reproductive healthcare, and underscores Kenya’s commitment to Universal Health
Coverage (UHC) under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
