NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenya’s public hospitals will soon be ranked based on the quality of services they provide under a new government initiative aimed at improving accountability and patient outcomes.
Director-General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth said the ranking system will be anchored in the proposed Quality Health Care and Patient Safety Bill, which has been approved by Cabinet and is now before the Senate.
“Once passed into law, we will have a clear system for how hospitals are run,” Dr Amoth said. “In the public sector, we sometimes claim to offer services beyond our capacity. This Bill will help us continuously improve and ensure Kenyans receive the highest quality of care.”
Dr Amoth spoke on Wednesday during the inaugural National Science Research Translation Congress at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi.
He said the ranking will not be punitive but will act as a continuous quality improvement tool, helping hospitals benchmark and adopt best practices.
“It is not about punishment,” he added. “It is about measuring ourselves, identifying gaps, and improving so that Kenyans get the quality of health services guaranteed by the Constitution.”
The Bill sets performance standards based on human resources, equipment, and infrastructure—areas where many public hospitals currently fall short.
The ranking framework is part of a wider Ministry of Health plan to leverage real-time data to enhance service delivery.
The ministry is developing digital dashboards to track indicators such as patient satisfaction, mortality rates, and the availability of essential medicines.
Dr Amoth said the ministry is working closely with universities and research institutions to strengthen data analytics and ensure that policy decisions are guided by evidence.
“We base our decisions on data. That’s why we are partnering with institutions like the University of Nairobi’s Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis,” he said.
He added that the rankings will promote transparency in a sector often characterised by uneven standards between urban and rural facilities.
The ministry is also collaborating with KEMRI and regional partners to develop innovation ecosystems that translate research into practical health improvements.
“We want hospitals to operate like performance-based institutions,” Dr Amoth said. “If one excels in orthopedic outcomes, we should know that — and if another struggles, we should help it improve.”
He said the long-term goal is to make data, research, and innovation the foundation of hospital management and funding.
“This is how we move from data to decision, from evidence to action, and from innovation to impact,” he added.
The Quality Health Care and Patient Safety Bill 2025 forms part of broader reforms under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA), which seeks to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency across the public service.
