The Cabinet has approved the Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Bill, 2025 , a key legislative proposal aimed at transforming Kenya’s healthcare system by strengthening regulation, curbing malpractice, and ensuring patient safety.

The Bill is part of broader legal reforms under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda and is expected to play a central role in the country’s push toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

In a statement following a recent Cabinet meeting, the proposed law was described as a timely intervention to address deep-rooted failures, corruption, and unregulated practices that have severely undermined public confidence in the health sector.

According to the Cabinet brief, “The lack of clear standards, coupled with weak oversight and collusion among health facilities, regulators, and practitioners, has left patients vulnerable and the system largely unaccountable.”

The Bill proposes the creation of a unified national quality assurance framework, setting out new licensing, registration, and accreditation requirements for all healthcare providers,  including hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and ambulance services.

These new standards are meant to eliminate the operational freedom that has allowed substandard facilities to operate unchecked.

To enforce the reforms, the Bill outlines the establishment of an independent Quality Healthcare and Patient Safety Authority. The Authority will have a mandate to oversee the enforcement of care standards, track performance across healthcare facilities, and lead quality improvement efforts nationwide.

It also proposes safeguarding patients' rights by defining minimum service delivery standards and instituting formal protocols for handling emergency medical services.

The Cabinet noted that the new Authority would be crucial in sealing regulatory loopholes, ending conflicts of interest, and addressing the widespread fraud that has been allowed to thrive due to lack of accountability.

By targeting both systemic and operational failures, the Bill is expected to mark a turning point in the country’s health reforms, with the government projecting a shift toward patient-centered, efficient, and transparent service delivery.

The legislation was first introduced during a stakeholder consultative forum chaired by Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale in Nairobi last month.

Duale said the proposals complement five critical UHC pillars already in progress.

These include: a fully publicly funded primary healthcare model; digitisation and telemedicine; protection of healthcare resources in partnership with the National Treasury and counties; a new Emergency Medical Treatment Fund; and provision of Social Health Insurance for all Kenyans.

The Bill also seeks to set up a unified Healthcare Tribunal to resolve disputes among patients, practitioners, and service providers. The goal is to improve access to justice, enhance accountability, and ensure that new services, such as aesthetic medical procedures, adhere to the same safety and quality standards as traditional healthcare.

With Cabinet approval secured, the Bill will now proceed to Parliament for debate and possible enactment.