How Kenyan hospitals are drawing patients from across Africa
The Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi.
What you need to know:
- Data from the Tourism Sector Performance Report 2024 show that about 7,944 people from the East African Community travelled to Kenya for medical reasons in 2024.
Elizabeth Mupako arrived in Nairobi for medical treatment in the early hours of Monday morning. The Zimbabwean national, who works in Arusha, Tanzania, has a knee injury.
Speaking to Nation, she noted that she was referred referred to Kenya for treatment because it is a one-stop shop for the specialists needed to treat her condition.
“When I come here, there is a Doctor’s Plaza that has all the specialists,” she said.
Her need for specialised treatment began with a football injury in 2016. After initial treatment in Arusha failed to stop the pain and her condition worsened, she was evacuated to Nairobi. There, a team of specialists; including a cardiologist, neurologist, and orthopaedic surgeon, review her case. She has been coming to Kenya for treatment since then.
“I had a scheduled appointment today (Monday) and I will be admitted for a day and fly back to Arusha on Wednesday,” she told Nation.
She will come back to Nairobi in a fortnight for a complex procedure on her knees.
However, her travel to and from Kenya is often tedious. Flight cancellations are particularly disruptive as she is sometimes forced to reschedule hard-to-get appointments.
“I wish airlines could prioritise patients even when they (airlines) decide to cancel their flights,” she said.
Elizabeth represents a small number of non-Kenyans who come to the country to seek medical attention.
Data from the Tourism Sector Performance Report 2024 show that about 7,944 people from the East African Community travelled to Kenya for medical reasons in 2024.
Last year, most of the patients travelled from Tanzania, followed closely by Uganda, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, in that order.
In 2022, Médecins Sans Frontieres documented the travel of 62 women from Malawi who were seeking radiotherapy services in Kenya. The organisation had developed a referral system that helped the women get proper medical care.
Data from the Global Medical Tourism Association show that around 14 million people travel internationally for medical treatment. However, Kenya's share of this market is minimal, with medical tourists making up only 0.4 per cent of its visitors.
With just under five years to 2030, Kenya’s vision is to elevate the country to be a regional hub for specialised healthcare and medical tourism.
Last week, the Aga Khan University Hospital, in partnership with Kenya Airways, forged a partnership that will bolster Kenya’s dream of becoming a medical tourism hub.
“This partnership makes it easier for patients from across Africa to access world-class healthcare without leaving the continent,” said Rashid Khalani, the hospital’s CEO.
“When patients get treatment closer home, it means more convenient travel, a familiar environment to recover in, and a sense of pride in their local healthcare,” he added.
A few months ago, an eight-hour, 30-minute outbound flight from Kenya carrying a five-week-old baby from an incubator landed in Paris when the baby’s health parameters were in good shape.
But it’s not always easy to fly patients to different parts of the world.
Dr Ahmed Salat, manager of Passenger Health at Kenya Airways (KQ), explained that to evacuate a passenger, an airline has to first get a request from a hospital or a family.
After receiving the request, they obtain a report from the attending doctor and assess it based on standard aviation industry procedures.
“Most times, passengers with medical needs require a doctor or a nurse onboard to take care of their needs. At KQ, we provide inflight oxygen and stretchers for a passenger who is in a vegetative state can travel,” he explained.
The preparation for onboarding a patient begins well before travel. Doctors must complete medical evacuation forms, a crucial step in ensuring a seamless process.
In complicated cases that need oxygen, an airline provides it as the air becomes thinner at higher altitudes.
Dr Salat explained that most of the time, patients typically pay for a standard ticket, with additional costs only for medical facilitation. For instance, if a patient requires a stretcher that occupies six seats, they are required to pay more.
When there is a patient on board, the pilot sometimes informs other passengers using the public address system. Other times, passengers may not even notice since patients are usually kept at the back of the aircraft in a secluded place with curtains.
Also read: Doctors go for specialist training in India
Dr Salat said KQ handles about 8,000 cases every year. While some patients may not exactly enter Kenya, they may use the country for transit to other parts of the world.
Linner Kosgey, head of International Referral Business at the Aga Khan University Hospital, explained that it also takes a process before agreeing to have a medical evacuation.
“We usually receive an alert from either a referral hospital or a doctor, from across the continent. When we receive the request, we usually ask for a medical report so that it informs us of the kind of care that a patient needs,” she added.
Once the hospital approves, they send documentation to help in visa facilitation. When everything is set, the hospital is alerted when the aircraft is taking off in coordination with the medical evacuation team
At Aga Khan, Linner explained that the hospital mostly receives complex surgical cases, complex interventional cases like neurosurgery, open heart surgeries, kidney transplant cases, a patient who requires confirmation of a diagnosis that they got from their country and traumatic surgeries from the wars happening across the regions.
Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital (KUTRRH) has also positioned itself as a centre for medical tourism, acquiring advanced technology like a CyberKnife systemand cyclotron machine for precision cancer treatment.
The facility has a hospitality centre to help in accommodating patients who travel from areas outside Nairobi and the region.
Dr Zeinab Gura, the hospital’s CEO, told Nation that so far, the facility has received patients from more than 27 countries in Africa who mostly present with oncology cases.
“We have partnered with embassies to ensure swift processing of patients through our international office.”
They also encourage medical tourism by mapping the journey for patients to ensure access is easy, both financially and clinically.
Similarly, Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), the largest public referral hospital in East and Central Africa, based in Nairobi, also serves patients from different parts of the region.
Complex surgeries
The hospital management told Nation that in the recent past, they have been doing complex surgeries that have not been done elsewhere in the world. This helps them in attracting clientele and giving hope that medical solutions can be found in Africa. Patients also come to KNH for oncology diagnosis, care and treatment.
“We also have an established tuberculosis facility that deals with all kinds of TB complications, including multi-drug TB,” said the hospital.
KNH’s Infectious Disease Unit not only treats infections but also guides on how to manage them in East and Central Africa.
The hospital has a centre for kidney diseases and organ transplantation, which is not common in other parts of the region, leading to an influx of patients.
KNH has a Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Laboratory used for testing and consultative support for organ transplant, the first of its kind in East Africa.
"With patients coming into the country, it shows that Kenya is taking up the space in terms of global medical innovations, and that also brings more income to the country," said the hospital management.
