The new Social Health Insurance Fund(SHIF) continued to attract criticism on Tuesday morning over the manner in which the government intends to pilot the program even as reports emerged that most private hospitals were yet to get formal contracts from the government.
Kenya Rural and Private Hospital Association Chairperson Brian Lishenga speaking during a talk show on Citizen TV revealed that most players in the private healthcare industry are convinced the sector is not adequately prepared for the rollout even as the government maintains a brave face that all is well.
Lishenga maintained that private hospitals are ill equipped for the transition and went as far as to say that not a single healthcare provider from the private sector had a contract with the Social Health Authority(SHA).
‘’We are not ready and even across the country, there is no single health provider that I know of that has a contract with SHA,’’ Lishenga revealed.
A hospital ward in Kenya.
Photo
Kenyans.co.ke/Murang’a GH
He added that the government seemed to have embarked on a desperate move to try to reach out to them to get their contracts with the new health scheme.
‘’As at yesterday we were scrambling nationwide to get contracts to providers,’’
This happened even as the government insisted that everything is ready for their rollout. The State has urged Kenyans who had not registered for the new insurance scheme to get their details updated for them to access medical services across Kenyan hospitals.
Lishenga stated that even despite their cooperation, there seemed to be reluctance on the part of the government to get the contracts ready on time.
‘’We have cooperated with the government even when they reach out to tell us to try to get to our members to get contracts and tell them where contracts have not arrived,’’
‘’We are privy to information on the contracts but I will tell you that by the time I went to bed yesterday no one had a contract with SHA. There are still places in this country where contracts had not arrived,’’ he added.
The chairperson also maintained that there was a rush to rollout the program, a decision that might have led to other important players being left out.
‘’There was rush and I can tell you that by yesterday evening there are places where officers from NHIF, because we don’t have SHA offices yet were rushing to give physical contracts to healthcare providers to sign,’’
The new health insurance scheme is set to be formally rolled out today with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) set to be retired.
Kenyans who will be seeking health services from both private and public hospitals will be forced to register with the new scheme before they have access to use government insurance scheme.
Health Cabinet Secretary Debra Barasa when she appeared before Parliament in July 2024 for vetting before her eventual appointment.
