This archive report was first published on 5 November 2019.
On November 5, 2019, Minet Kenya launched an enhanced professional indemnity policy targeting medical practitioners, providing them with the necessary protection against potential lawsuits.
The policy, which is now mandatory for medical practitioners and health institutions, covers a range of risks including libel and slander, loss of document, dishonest and malicious acts, advisory services, claims advocacy, and asset & premium financing facilitation.
According to Minet Kenya Chief Executive Officer Sammy Muthui, the policy is designed to give doctors the peace of mind they need to execute their duties well, despite the challenges they face in diagnosing and treating different diseases.
"Every day, doctors are faced with the challenges of diagnosing and treating different diseases, ailments, pains, or other conditions. These doctors are human and at one point in their career are bound to fall short. It is because of the human error element that we have tailored an enhanced professional indemnity policy for doctors," Muthui said.
The policy is grouped under six categories ranging from general practitioners to specialists like cardiologists, neurologists, haematologists, anaesthetists, gynaecologists, obstetricians, among others. Each category will attract different amounts of annual premium based on the cover benefits, with a premium range of between Ksh19, 000 and Ksh170, 000.
"Some of these claims by patients concerning alleged malpractice could run into millions of Shillings, the cost of which the practitioners might find hard to meet on their own. We believe our revamped professional indemnity policy will give doctors the peace of mind they so much need to execute their duties well," Muthui added.
On May 13, 2019, the President assented to the health laws (amendment) act, 2019, which now makes it mandatory for medical practitioners to take a professional indemnity cover and every health institution to insure against professional liability of its staff. Both practitioners and health institutions are expected to comply with this law by November 15, 2019.
