Kenya's Health Insurance Scheme on course, says Nyong'o

The proposed National Social Health Insurance Scheme Bill is ready and will soon be tabled in Parliament for debate.

Medical Services Minister Anyang’ Nyong’o on Wednesday said if the Bill is enacted, it will enable Kenyans, especially the poor to access quality healthcare services in all public hospitals.

Speaking during a hospital reforms award ceremony held at Afya House in Nairobi, Prof Nyong’o urged as many people as possible to enroll as National Hospital Insurance Fund members to enable them benefit when the scheme is rolled out.

In 2004, plans to introduce a similar scheme were thwarted after President Kibaki failed to assent to a Bill that had been passed in Parliament saying the cost was prohibitive and his Government was unable to meet the budgetary allocation.

Earlier, Prof Nyong’o said due to a shortage of nurses and other healthcare workers, services in some public health facilities has continued to deteriorate.

“Due to this shortage of nurses and other healthcare services, patients are being forced to unnecessarily stay in our health facilities longer than required turning the institutions into hotels,” Prof Nyong’o complained.

The World Health Organisation recommended nurse patient ratio is 200 per 100,000 patients.

However, the country’s ratio currently stands at 50 per 100,000 patients.

At the same time, Prof Nyong’o said the country’s referral system had broken down and urged hospitals to invest in reforms in a bid to revamp and improve their standards and quality of care to patients.

During the ceremony, the Coast General Provincial Hospital was declared the best hospital in the country in hospital reforms in 2009.