Rights group petitions court over suspension of inmate healthcare at Mbagathi Hospital
Human Rights Organization, Kituo Cha Sheria, has filed a petition at the High Court seeking to compel Mbagathi Referral Hospital to restore medical services for prisoners after the facility suspended their treatment over unpaid bills by the Kenya Prisons Services.
In the Petition by their director, Wambua Kituku, the civil society has claimed that prisoners have been unable to access essential treatment services since last month, after the level 5 hospital stopped attending to prisoners from KPS following an outstanding bill of about Sh12million.
Kituku has argued that the suspension has exposed inmates, including those suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses, to grave risks of deteriorating health, preventable suffering, and even death.
He now wants the court to issue interim orders compelling both the Ministry of Health and Mbagathi Hospital to resume admitting and treating inmates without discrimination, regardless of the financial dispute between state agencies.
Kituo Cha Sheria is also seeking orders directing the State Law Office, the Ministry of Health, and the Kenya Prisons Service to ensure prisoners have continuous access to healthcare, either at Mbagathi Hospital or other designated public facilities.
According to Kituo Cha Sheria, the suspension by Mbagathi violates fundamental constitutional rights, including the right to health under Article 43, the right to dignity under Article 28, and the right to freedom from cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under Article 29.
“The continued denial of medical services renders this petition nugatory and places inmates at risk of irreparable harm and preventable deaths,” the petition reads in part.
The legal aid group maintains that prisoners, being in state custody, are fully dependent on the government for their welfare and cannot independently access healthcare.
The court is expected to issue directions on the matter.
Nairobi County’s Mbagathi Hospital has suspended its service to inmates over Sh12 million owed to them by the Kenya Prison Service.
Records from the hospital indicate that the debt owed to them by KPS is linked to treatments provided to inmates over several years.
The Level 5 hospital management noted that despite repeated follow-ups, no settlement was made, leaving the institution unable to meet its operational needs.
Officials from the hospital explained that the failure to clear the obligations had strained the hospital’s ability to purchase essential supplies, forcing the suspension.
“This letter serves as a formal notification that we are suspending our services to prisoners effective Monday, 4th August, 2025,” the Mbagathi County Referral Hospital stated in a notice.
However, the Commissioner General of Prisons, Patrick Aranduh, pleaded with the management of the hospital to reconsider its decision as they plan to resolve the issue.
“A kind appeal to your institution to lift the directive on suspension of services while KPS and the State Department for Correctional Services work on modalities of settling the outstanding obligations,” Aranduh pleaded.
As of November 2024, the State Department for Correctional Services had already accumulated arrears of Sh6.7 million for medical services rendered between July 2018 and November 2022.
