What does Nairobi Women’s Hospital (NWH) in Kenya, have in common with Wells Fargo Bank and Microsoft in the United States? Each is proof that when a business is run like a sales team, it can look impressive—while quietly brewing disaster.
Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal similarity to Microsoft and Wells Fargo
In the case of the Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal though, if it wasn’t so tragic, it would almost be admirable. How unethical—and how cold-hearted—can you be to make revenue and targets, rather than patient health, the deciding factors for admission and discharge? That is the essence of the scandal. Like the Wells Fargo debacle, it was ethically bankrupt. No question.
And just as with Microsoft under Steve Ballmer it is demonstrative that you cannot run a business like a sales team. Indeed, Business analysts media outlets alike have described Ballmer as: “The worst CEO of all time for a Fortune 500 company. During his time, Microsoft’s share value dropped by half! It went up by 8% on news of his retirement.
From a sales standpoint, however, the Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal is oddly instructive. Even admirable. It illustrates how a team, when tightly aligned to targets, can pull in the same direction and keep sales firmly on track. That is the thrust of this article.
Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal
Now then. The Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal exposed an institution more obsessed with hitting revenue targets than with treating patients. How? By incentivizing clinical officers, via commissions, for prescribing needless admissions and deliberately dragging out discharges – and be damned the consequences on the patients mental anguish, and their families. Be damned the land they might be forced to sell, the savings they’d sacrifice, the fundraisers they’d scramble to organize, or the loans they’d sink into raising the manufactured costs demanded by the hospital. All under the desperate belief that “anything to get our patient better.”
Keeping a round the clock pulse on sales
What’s more, revenue, commissions, admissions, and discharge numbers were being actively tracked—impressively, from a sales perspective—on a WhatsApp group. This was done per branch, hour by hour, every single day and night, and overseen personally by none other than the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) himself!
The exposé by the Daily Nation, prompted by conscience-stricken whistle-blowers, came with receipts-screenshots of WhatsApp messages. These ranged from motivational -“Team, let’s ensure we don’t let the team down…let’s meet our target”—to reproachful—“Vikki, calm down…we expect better performance in future. Obviously, this is not good for us.”
They also revealed a target-driven tone: “We have the numbers as follows at this hour,” followed by branch-specific figures. At times, the pressure was explicit: “We are 22 admissions short with 3 days to go.” (paraphrased). The CEO, Dr. Felix Wanjala, didn’t stop there. Like an effective Sales Manager, he even prescribed how to seal the gap: “Nakuru Branch, start with looking for referrals, do not miss any opportunity, and be very vigilant in casualty.”
Executive complicity in NWH scandal
The Chief Operation Officer, Eunice Munyingi, was equally complicit. She actively monitored the internet for negative mentions of the hospital and managed them swiftly—impressive, though chilling, in its intent. Beyond reputation management, she drove staff relentlessly to boost admissions. In one instance, she targeted the Group Nurse in charge, writing, “Let us increase speed 2 admissions against 13 discharges at this hour not good…you must get 3 admissions by 9pm tonight.”
The CEO was no less explicit. At one point, he urged, “It’s our striking time. Let’s intensify our effort…replace all discharges by 6pm.” And In another message, he fumed, “How did we end up at 18 discharges from 10 planned?” This is a doctor who swore the Hippocratic Oath, as do all medical practitioners, to first do no harm.
Yet, in effect, what executive was saying was, “Lie to the patient about their condition so as to justify unnecessary admissions and to delay their discharge.” Let that sink in.
Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal. A business is not a sales team
The Nairobi Women’s Hospital scandal brings to the fore sobering lessons. The importance of continually monitoring sales performance is one. The other is the danger of running an entire business as if it were just a sales team. And yet, paradoxically, the success of both is determined by sales made.
Alas! Sales may be the lifeline of a business, but it is not the business. As with Microsoft under Ballmer, businesses – even those being fattened for sale like it turned out Nairobi Women’s Hospital was – cannot grow by chasing sales alone. But more importantly, no enterprise, however tempting, can survive on unfettered selling.
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