President William Ruto’s State of the Nation address last Thursday, before the joint sitting of both the National Assembly and the Senate, cast a light on the ongoing debate over a myriad of issues surrounding healthcare in the country. Key on the President’s points were Universal Health Coverage (UHC), the Social Health Authority (SHA) and a number of issues associated with the dispensation of healthcare services in the country.
Overall, the speech seemed to have dealt a blow to the simmering debate on the functionality of SHA. Currently, the question on whether SHA is working or not has veered off from an important national discourse—an area the debate should have given prominence—to a political tool used by the opposition politicians, together with those without adequate information on the health insurance, to malign the government. So far, a good number of people have expressed their satisfaction with the services they received through SHA.
Classic examples are women who give birth at different medical facilities across the country. For example, a mother whose monthly SHA remittances are at Ksh.500 will be required to pay a paltry Ksh. 1000 at delivery, when she’d have parted ways with Ksh. 15,000 or more — had she not registered with the health insurance cover.
The Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health Dr Ouma Oluga, when weighing in on the SHA programme, listed more payment options, something that underscored President Ruto’s call for many people to continue registering to SHA. Dr Oluga urged that SHA remittances should never be seen as burdensome, as others have made it look. He pointed out that SHA’s payment is flexible in that even people with unpredictable income, like in the “jua kali” sector, are well catered for. Someone can pay bit by bit (lipa pole pole) and still end up enjoying the services.
Although there are a number of issues that are still slowing down the comprehensive rollout of the programme, that’s something that is expected of a new idea at its inception. Actually, even the dafunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) had a few hiccups here and there in its early stages. That should explain why a number of issues are being raised with SHA — something that even key stakeholders and proponents of the programme are in agreement with.
Another point that the President highlighted, which calls for emphasis, is on the UHC—another key development that will greatly benefit Kenyans. For example, the President, during the address, pointed out the immense work of the 107,000 community health promoters, who’re promoting preventive health care to avert increasing non-communicable diseases.
Statistics to that effect abound. For instance, 8.9 million households have so far been visited by the health workers, 9.9 million diabetes screenings have been done, with 134,000 cases diagnosed. 6.5 million hypertension screenings have also been conducted.
The Principal Secretary, while also speaking on the UHC, stressed the need for all and sundry to pull their resources together in order to cater for the less privileged who would otherwise remain unable to meet medical costs. Giving an example of someone sliding into poverty after selling his only goat or a piece of land, the PS was of the opinion that Universal Health Coverage was designed to level the playing field so that both millionaires and peasant farmers would access equal medical treatment.
