This archive report was first published on 12 July 2020.
Stop Afya House Cabal's Regulatory Mischief ¶
By Lukoye Atwoli, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Moi University School of Medicine, published on July 12, 2020.
A cabal at the Ministry of Health headquarters is wreaking havoc in the health sector, seeking to muddy the waters and create mayhem for unknown reasons.
Recently, this group has proposed legislation to overhaul the composition of health sector regulatory authorities and the National Hospital Insurance Fund.
They aim to remove health workers or their representatives from all regulatory boards, citing 'conflict of interest', and replace them with individuals appointed by the minister.
However, this proposal displays a poor grasp of the history of professional regulation and the modern realities in the sector.
Traditionally, doctors created and funded regulatory bodies to maintain the traditions and practices of the profession and protect the public from charlatans.
Over time, these boards have been expanded to include lay members of the public, but their primary role has remained self-regulatory.
Practitioners submit to the authority of such boards because they are led by their peers and their decisions are informed by theoretical considerations and the experience of the members.
The Ministry of Health contributes nothing to the budgets of many of these boards, and their running costs are fully funded by registration and licensing fees collected from the regulated professionals and facilities.
It is, therefore, absurd for Afya House mandarins to want to interfere unnecessarily with these institutions.
Removing health workers from their own regulatory bodies will hobble these institutions, and the professionals will vociferously oppose such an action.
It begs the question why anyone within the Ministry of Health hierarchy would think it is a good idea to make such proposals at this time when we are dealing with Covid-19.
