President Uhuru Kenyatta is set to launch the universal health care programme next week across four counties with help from the private sector.
The counties selected for the December 1 launch are Nyeri, Machakos, Kisumu and Isiolo.
The government intends to provide the resources and part of the health service infrastructure, while private health care companies will give almost half the backup in conjunction with the National Hospital Insurance Fund.
National Treasury CS Henry Rotich, while reading out the allocation for the Big Four in this year’s budget, said the government will seek to partner with private players who can fill the gaps where public hospitals cannot reach.
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According to Raja Ganapathy, Vice President Business and Growth of Bliss Healthcare - one of the private health providers picked for the programme - the roll out of the UHC will expand the number of Kenyans accessing quality and affordable health services.
He said NHIF currently has about 20 million members, including dependents, who are covered but the number is set to go up.
The government has picked and listed under NHIF, private hospitals that are well placed to offer quality services touching on doctor consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, ultrasound, X-Ray, CT scan, dental, optical, physiotherapy, immunization among other basic services.
“The private sector health care providers are well prepared to work with the government in rolling out UHC. They have been partnering with NHIF in offering the outpatient capitation scheme and they have in their systems well-tested programmes to participate in UHC, Raja said.
He said major challenges in healthcare await in the outpatient care, which is facing high demands from HIV/Aids, Cancer, pneumonia, tuberculosis, malaria, skin diseases, and diarrhea among others.
Raja said while government dispensaries spread across the country to the sublocation level deal with primary healthcare, the private sector have the capacity for referral facilities for complicated medical needs.
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