Cancer club: Give more to hospital fund
What you need to know:
- African Cancer Foundation chairman Anyang’ Nyong’o said quality cancer treatment will only be achieved in Kenya if the NHIF contributions are increased.
- Prof Nyong’o said the proposal to have the hospital fund contributions increased was resisted by unions and employers.
The African Cancer Foundation has called on workers to contribute more to the national insurance fund.
Foundation chairman Anyang’ Nyong’o said quality cancer treatment will only be achieved in Kenya if the National Hospital Insurance Fund contributions are increased.
“The fund can give out-patient cancer care and patients will not have to wait for a long time before they can get it, as it is now. That will only be achieved by acquiring more funds through contributions,” Prof Nyong’o said.
He was addressing cancer experts during the launch of the Kenya Society for Hematology and Oncology, (Kesho), at a Nairobi Hotel.
UNIONS RESISTED
Prof Nyong’o, who is a former Medical Services minister, said the proposal to have the hospital fund contributions increased was resisted by unions and employers.
“This means people still have to pay from their pockets to access out-patient care and those who cannot afford it die,” he said, adding: “There is need to modernise the hospital fund. Let us contribute money that can make provide universal healthcare.”
He proposed that contributors do so based on their income.
“Our incomes are different. I should contribute more than my driver, since I earn more. If I contribute Sh1,000, my driver can contribute Sh300. That should be my contribution to public health,” he said.
