The Social Health Insurance, when fully operationalised under the Social Health Authority (SHA), will arguably be the biggest government project since independence. It promises to put the medical records of 54 million Kenyans under one platform and link them with all health providers — public, private and faith-based — in the republic.
If I go to the accredited Mutuini Level 4 Hospital in my ward and get treated for malaria, that information will be accessible to any other accredited hospital in the country. Any doctor will see my health history from any part of the country and it will be easy for him or her to attend to me based on the history vis-a-vis current condition.
Also under SHA, and unlike under NHIF, every Kenyan irrespective of rank or pay grade will enjoy equal benefits. There will be no preferential cover or “enhanced package” enjoyed by civil servants under NHIF.
But since it was rolled out on October 1, the news has been distressing. It has been pain upon pain for patients. We have seen images of distraught patients being turned away from health facilities because the new system is inaccessible. We have rightfully seen headlines declaring the rollout of the Fund a nightmare. The confusion caused by miscommunication from a seemingly clueless ministry has added to the pain. SHA appears to be in the intensive care unit already and many wonder why a healthy NHIF had to go.
Best gift
However, looking at the provisions of the laws that created SHA, and the promise of the insurance package, I have chosen to be positive and liken the hiccups experienced in the roll-out to the labour pains of an expectant mother – terrible to bear, but necessary for a glorious aftermath. True, the launch was rushed and Kenyans were ill-prepared for the rollout; but this is where we are now. SHA is what we have; NHIF is gone. Do we kill a good thing just because it was launched in haste?
A doctor at the Mutuini Level 4 Hospital told me that SHA is the best gift for me as area MCA. Every week I receive people in my office asking for support with cash to clear hospital bills. My office has tens of cards inviting me to medical funds drives. If I attended every medical harambee in my ward, that would be every Sunday every month. A few weeks ago my area chief and I had to go to Kikuyu Mission Hospital to plead for the release of a youth whose family could not raise Sh2.6 million after holding three harambees in three months. Medical bills have been a burden on many Kenyans.
Now with SHA, the harambees in the villages will be replaced by the contributions every able Kenyan will pay to SHA. It is a kind of national harambee where all those who can afford more will give more, those with little to give a little so that they, plus those who cannot pay at all, get to enjoy equal medical benefits. It means the well-to-do relative will be relieved from calls from parents and siblings to foot their medical bills since they too, no matter how destitute, will be in SHA. Isn’t that a good thing?
In our debate about SHA then, let us be driven by the opportunities in the new medical fund than by the hiccups being experienced now.
The writer is MCA for Mutuini Ward and a member of the Health Committee in the County Assembly of Nairobi. Email: [email protected]
