Kenyans will start enjoying affordable and quality healthcare after President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the rollout of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in all the 47 counties.
UHC, which was piloted in Isiolo, Nyeri, Machakos and Kisumu counties, will ensure access to essential health benefits, medicines, reduction of out-of-pocket expenditure and increase in health workforce as per the World Health Organization recommendations.
President Kenyatta said private hospitals will now be compelled to lower their cost of healthcare after the government adopted UHC.
Big private hospitals will also have to cut down costs of treatment and compete with public facilities that have now been better equipped with specialists.
“Never again should a Kenyan needlessly suffer or be driven to poverty because of medical bills. Kenyans please register in NHIF to benefit from UHC. We want to eradicate poverty but it is impossible if someone from your household falls sick and you do not have insurance cover forcing you to sell your properties,” urged the Head of State stressing that the Sh500 monthly NHIF remittance is crucial to saving lives.
Yesterday, during the launch at the Port Reitz Sub County hospital in Changamwe, Mombasa county, President Kenyatta highlighted the strides his government has achieved in improving the health sector.
He spoke of the reforms at the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) and National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) which he insisted must be concluded for Kenyans to benefit.
“To ensure the effectiveness of NHIF and secure these funds, I direct the biometric registration of NHIF to be interlinked with the Huduma Number database. Counties should ensure our health facilities have financial autonomy, the funds collected by the hospitals should be reinvested back,” said President Kenyatta.
He said his administration has invested heavily in the health sector to ensure Kenyans are not compelled to travel abroad for specialized treatment.
“That is the kind of development and focus that we want, you don’t have to travel to India to get cancer treatment [when] you can access the services including open heart surgery at Coast General Teaching and Referral hospital.”
The President lauded Kenyan medics saying they are among the best globally which is why they are being sourced by countries like Canada and Australia.
“We are producing the best medics but we must ensure they are trained on technology,” he added.
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