Providing health services to secondary school students is a big challenge to the administrators. This is a rather delicate population that needs to be properly and promptly catered for. Therefore, the service providers must be reliable.
It is a pity that some unscrupulous people will try to manipulate for selfish gain a system meant to benefit such a vulnerable group. Hence, we commend the efforts by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to streamline healthcare in secondary schools. Through its EduAfya medical cover, the NHIF has sought to seal the loopholes being exploited by some crooked people.
This, of course, is a part of the endemic corruption that continues to plague the public sector. The NHIF has fired a warning shot by declaring that it will not pay for the services supposedly provided to schools by unaccredited medical suppliers. This is the way to go as it is only through proper registration that the service providers’ efficiency and capacity to deliver can be assessed and confirmed. It is the only way we can tell we are dealing with credible organisations that will deliver the required services.
As schools have already reopened for the third term, the quicker this can be done the better since illnesses cannot be kept on hold. Corruption often fights back. Therefore, the NHIF must go all out to restore order in an area that has been infiltrated by shady operators driven by greed and who cannot adequately provide the medical services that the students need. And while at it, the Fund must also ensure that the student medical cover becomes an effective tool for providing healthcare in schools.
All must heed Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang’s advice to choose service providers who can deliver the goods. The students’ health is too important to be left in unsure hands and at the mercy of a few crooked operators.
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