State Urged To Streamline SHA As President Ruto Clears KSh4.3M Hospital Nill Gor Gatundu North Family
MPS GG Kagombe (Gatundu South) and Elijah Njoroge Kururia (Gatundu North) at Kawira village on Wednesday.
By John Kamau
The government has been urged to address challenges facing the Social Health Authority (SHA), a medical scheme that aims to ensure all Kenyans have access to quality healthcare in both public and private hospitals.
Months since its roll-out, the medical scheme has been battling implementation holdups, which leaders and the citizenry want the government to address.
Over the past few months, public concerns and frustrations over the scheme have grown, with patients citing system failures, additional payment requirements and limited coverage.
Speaking at Kawira village in Gatundu North, Kiambu County, MPs Gabriel Kagombe (Gatundu South) and Njoroge Kururia (Gatundu North) urged the government to decisively deal with major inconveniences including issues with patient clearance and billing.
“We understand that there are still hiccups in the new healthcare scheme and we call upon the Ministry of Health to fast track implementation and streamline services so as to save Kenyans the agony of dealing with huge medical bills and to also enhance access to quality and affordable healthcare,” Kagombe said.
They spoke after President William Ruto cleared a KSh4.3 million bill for Caroline Muthoni Kaniu who died months ago while undergoing treatment at Kenyatta University of Research and Referral Hospital (KUTRRH).
“The President heard this family’s pleas and called us to the State House where he gave us the money and directed us to clear all outstanding bills so that the family can give the deceased a decent send-off,” Kururia said.
The leaders at the same time called on Kenyans to register with the authority to ensure access to quality healthcare services without financial hardship, as part of a government initiative to improve healthcare outcomes.
“Even if there are still some unresolved setbacks in the new system, it is imperative for everyone to register and be insured by the new medical scheme so that they can access services easily in future,” the MP quipped.
Since her demise, Muthoni’s body has been held in custody at the facility as the family could not raise the required money to facilitate its release.
Her mother, Jane Wanjiku said that SHA only paid KSh430,000 out of the KSh4.3 million, a meager amount that caught the family stranded on the next move.
“We tried conducting fundraisers to clear the remaining arrears but we only raised a small amount. We are however grateful to the President for responding to our distress calls but urge him to expedite streamlining SHA to end Kenyans’ suffering,” Wanjiku said.
Similar sentiments were echoed by residents led by Kenneth Wamburu, the Imara Lands CEO who called on the government to fix the teething challenges facing the scheme for better access to quality healthcare.
Besides clearing the bill, the leaders and friends managed to raise Sh 230,000 more to facilitate Muthoni’s burial.
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