MPs: Chaotic rollout of SHA adds more pain to patients

Members of Parliament are concerned over the chaotic transition from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA), which is denying patients access to critical healthcare. There was uproar in the National Assembly as members questioned the "ineffective" rollout of the new scheme. The debate was introduced through an adjournment Motion by Lilian Gogo (Rangwe), who noted that whereas the objectives of SHA were commendable, the transition faced serious challenges. "How much has this particular programme allocated to the purchasing of equipment? How much has this programme allocated for the training of healthcare workers? As much as money is being drawn from my salary, the concern that I have Mr Speaker is, does this money reach a poor woman who is going to deliver at Rangwe hospital?" she said. "Another concern is that there should have been a smooth six-month transition which should have been sensitised but because of the trust deficit (with this administration) citizens are refusing to register." Gathoni Wamucomba (Githunguri) called for a return to NHIF until the issues surrounding the rollout were sorted out. "We must tell it as it is. This new programme is a total confusion. It's a total mess. Our people don't know what to do and we must go back to the drawing board. But for now let us withdraw these processes and go back to the original program until we are right," she said. The MPs noted that since the transition on October 1, many patients are still being turned away from hospitals. "As a former chair of the Health committee, yes NHIF had many challenges but when patients visited hospitals, they knew what to expect. A patient who was to go for dialysis, for chemotherapy and any other treatment knew what to pay and if they were to top up when they went to hospital," said Nominated MP Sabina Chege. "I would urge the chair of the Health committee that its high time that members conduct a public participation exercise." Minority Whip Millie Odhiambo urged the committee chairman, Robert Pukose, to call for a Kamukunji for members to be properly briefed on SHA so that they could educate their constituents. "The cries we are getting from our own constituencies and from ordinary Kenyans is telling you that there is a huge problem with transition and this transition was not done efficiently...I am a lawyer and I was here when this SHIF (Social Health Insurance Fund) was passed and a lot of us would want to sit here and pretend that we understand and know. There are a lot of things I don't understand about this and I passed this law here. What about ordinary Kenyans?" A section of the lawmakers, however, supported the change, claiming that what was being experienced were teething problems that would be addressed over time. "The mean premium out of the 710,000 people who have registered is Sh525. Out of the service providers, 7,802 hospitals have signed up for this programme. There are a further 8,118 healthcare providers who have successfully registered to offer services and out of these, 7,965 have offered services under SHIF to Kenyans," said Leader of Majority Kimani Ichung'wah. "I know that we may have failed in our communication strategy, we may have failed in how well we communicate and educate our people but let us use this opportunity on this floor to educate our people and let them know." Pukose argued that within a month of its launch, 39,000 Kenyans attended renal care visits, 81,000 had admissions, 12,000 cancer care visits were made and 49,000 consultations done at the primary care facilities. "The impact of this has been that we have had renal and rheumatology Sh430 million approved for live-saving dialysis care over the past five weeks. We also had more than Sh300 million approved for cancer care. The average turnaround time for pre-authorisation has now improved. We initially had issues but turnaround time now is two hours," he said.

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