The National Assembly has passed legislation seeking to outlaw the controversial practice of hospitals detaining discharged patients and withholding bodies of deceased patients over unpaid medical bills, in a significant legislative move aimed at protecting human dignity and the rights of vulnerable families.
The Bill, sponsored by Kirinyaga Woman Representative Jane Njeri Maina, seeks to close legal loopholes that have allowed medical facilities to use patients and deceased persons as leverage in efforts to recover outstanding medical expenses.
Its passage in the National Assembly marks an important step in a debate that has increasingly pitted hospitals’ financial interests against patients’ constitutional rights, with families sometimes forced to endure prolonged emotional distress as they struggle to raise money for treatment or funeral expenses.
Under the proposed legislation, hospitals would no longer be permitted to keep patients who have received medical clearance simply because they cannot settle their bills. Similarly, the remains of deceased patients would not be held as security for outstanding hospital debts.
The proposed changes are intended to ensure that financial hardship does not become a justification for restricting personal freedom or denying bereaved families the opportunity to bury their loved ones with dignity.
The Bill will now proceed to the Senate for consideration before being forwarded to President William Ruto for assent. It is therefore not yet an operational law.
A longstanding healthcare controversy
The passage comes against the backdrop of numerous cases in which Kenyan families have been unable to collect the bodies of relatives from hospitals and mortuaries because of accumulated medical expenses.
For many low-income households, the financial burden of hospitalisation does not end with the death of a patient. Instead, families are sometimes confronted with substantial outstanding bills, additional mortuary charges and the emotional pressure of being unable to conduct burial ceremonies.
The practice has attracted criticism from human rights advocates and legal experts, who argue that a hospital’s entitlement to recover money cannot override the dignity of patients or the rights of grieving relatives.
Maina and other lawmakers supporting the Bill have argued that despite previous judicial pronouncements against the practice, some healthcare facilities continue to detain patients and bodies, exposing families to unnecessary suffering.
The proposed legislation seeks to translate those judicial protections into a clearer statutory framework, making it harder for hospitals to justify detention as a debt recovery mechanism.
Courts have already drawn the line
The parliamentary development follows a series of court decisions challenging the legality of hospitals holding bodies over unpaid medical expenses.
In September 2025, the High Court ordered Mater Hospital to release the body of Caroline Nthangu Tito, whose remains had reportedly been held for nearly two months over an outstanding medical bill of approximately Sh3.3 million.
Justice Nixon Sifuna ruled that withholding a deceased person’s remains as security for payment was unlawful and violated the dignity of the deceased and the rights of surviving relatives.
The case illustrated the devastating consequences of medical debt on families already struggling with bereavement.
The court’s position was that healthcare providers could pursue legitimate debt recovery through lawful channels, but could not use human remains as collateral.
A similar dispute emerged in 2026 when the High Court ordered the unconditional release of the body of Justin Mwangi following a disagreement over an outstanding Sh2.4 million hospital bill.
The court emphasised that a hospital’s right to recover unpaid expenses did not extend to making burial conditional upon payment.
These decisions have strengthened the argument that the recovery of medical debts must be separated from the treatment of patients and the handling of deceased persons.
The question of discharged patients
Beyond mortuary disputes, the Bill also addresses the detention of patients who have completed treatment and received medical clearance but cannot afford to settle their hospital bills.
The practice has raised serious constitutional concerns, particularly regarding freedom of movement, personal liberty and human dignity.
In January 2025, the High Court awarded Herman Kinoru Sh800,000 after finding that Labib Hospital had unlawfully kept him in its facility for more than two months to compel him to clear outstanding medical expenses.
The ruling reinforced the principle that hospitals cannot turn a patient’s continued confinement into a debt collection strategy once the individual has been medically cleared for discharge.
Such cases have strengthened the call for legislation that clearly distinguishes between a hospital’s right to pursue payment and a patient’s right to freedom.
SHA contributions emerge as part of the solution
Despite supporting the legislative intervention, National Assembly Health Committee Chairperson James Nyikal cautioned that legislation alone would not resolve the financial pressures facing hospitals and patients.
Nyikal argued that Kenyans must consistently contribute to the Social Health Authority (SHA) scheme to strengthen the country’s health financing system and reduce the burden of unpaid medical expenses.
His position reflects a wider policy debate over whether the country’s transition towards universal health coverage can adequately protect households from catastrophic healthcare costs.
The SHA system was introduced under the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, as part of the government’s broader restructuring of healthcare financing.
However, concerns over contributions, access to benefits, reimbursement arrangements and the financial sustainability of healthcare providers have continued to shape discussions about the effectiveness of the new system.
For hospitals, unpaid bills represent a financial challenge involving treatment costs, staffing, medicines, equipment and other operational expenses.
For patients and their relatives, however, the inability to pay should not translate into the loss of fundamental rights.
The proposed law seeks to establish a clearer boundary between these competing interests.
A significant step, but implementation will matter
The Bill’s passage in the National Assembly is an important development, but its eventual impact will depend on the Senate’s consideration, presidential assent and the mechanisms established to enforce its provisions.
It also raises questions about how hospitals will recover outstanding debts once the practice of detaining patients and bodies is expressly prohibited.
Healthcare providers will still need lawful mechanisms to pursue unpaid bills, while government must strengthen health insurance coverage and address delays or gaps in financing that can leave families exposed.
Ultimately, the proposed reforms seek to establish a basic principle: poverty should not deprive a patient of personal freedom, nor should it prevent a family from giving a deceased relative a dignified burial.
For thousands of Kenyan households that have experienced the anguish of negotiating hospital debts while grieving, the parliamentary decision offers hope that a painful chapter in the country’s healthcare system could finally be brought to an end.
The next test now lies with the Senate and, ultimately, the implementation of the proposed protections.
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