Union asks anti-graft body to probe NHIF
Doctors have written to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission calling for investigations into the way the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) handled an insurance scheme meant to cover citizens without private insurance cover.
They claim that a number of hospitals across the country are providing beneficiaries of the national healthcare scheme with cheap drugs that are of questionable effectiveness.
Further, the hospitals segregate the patients by providing specific drug lists separate from those of patients seeking care under insurance schemes different from the controversial one provided by the NHIF, they added.
“Discrimination amongst patients is obvious and implied as they are seen as second-class patients.
“Some have separate queues and not subjected to the same attention as the patients making payments through other means,” said the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU).
“Here we see a gamble with the life of Kenyans,” KMPDU Secretary-General Boniface Chitayi said.
In a letter to the anti-graft agency, the doctors now seek answers on how two hospitals got about half of the allocations by the Fund, yet “at the time of appointment, they did not have facilities capable of providing nationwide services.”
KMPDU further wondered if there was any conflict of interest between parties in NHIF and the two hospitals named at a recent parliamentary committee hearing – Meridian Medical Services and Clinix.
“However, the most serious concern is the possibility of non-existent clinics in the name of these institutions having received civil servants’ money in advance,” Dr Chitayi said in the letter.
He noted that the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists’ Board had raised questions about the availability of clinics in the name of the two institutions countrywide.
The doctors said there were ghost or non-functional clinics in Kapsabet, Webuye, Eldoret, Bureti, Iten, Kericho, Kabarnet, Kakamega, Mumias, Kimilili, Nyandarua, Mwea, Karatina, Busia, Bungoma, Maua, Narok, Kitui, Machakos, Kinamba, Nkubu, Embu, Murang’a, Nyeri, Kiambu, Mpeketoni and Malindi.
“... This is a step towards achieving universal healthcare, but we have noted major shortcomings in the implementation of the plan.”
Although the goals of any health care system are good health, responsiveness to the expectations of the population, and fair financial contribution.
''The NHIF scheme, as it is, is unlikely to meet any of these due to lack of checks and balances,” KPMDU said.
According to the insurance fund’s disbursement report released by NHIF Director Richard Kerich last week, Clinix Health Care Centres received over Sh84 million while Meridian Medical Centres received over Sh93 million, adding up to Sh177 million.
Kenyatta National Hospital and Moi Teaching and Referral hospitals received Sh1 million. and Sh6 million respectively.
