- The opposition chief said the pandemic has exposed the gaps in Kenya’s healthcare system.
- He said the most urgent need for the country is to put in place measures to ensure universal access to reliable healthcare.
Image: RAILA ODINGA/TWITTER
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga has vouched for compulsory Universal Health Insurance cover for all Kenyans.
The ODM leader said the Covid-19 pandemic has shown Kenya the need to have access to quality and reliable healthcare, both preventive and curative.
He said this can only be possible if all Kenyans are cushioned from the high cost of medication through a reliable health insurance fund.
Coronavirus, he said, has reminded the country of ‘things we knew but ignored’.
“We must invest in a compulsory health insurance scheme that takes care of both the employed and unemployed, including farmers and the self-employed.
"We must ensure that this health insurance scheme gives the government primary responsibility to pay for the extremely poor in rural and urban areas,” Raila said.
He added, “The rest of the population should contribute to, and receive health coverage from the insurance scheme under the principle of “from each according to his/her ability and to each according to his/her need.”
In this arrangement, we can then put the money in a kitty from which everybody gets health insurance coverage in a sustainable manner.
The opposition chief said the pandemic has exposed gaps in Kenya’s healthcare system and which require urgent measures to address.
“It has lifted the lid on gaps that have denied our people access to health care,” he said.
This is despite the fact that the 2010 Constitution requires, among other things, that every Kenyan has a right to access the highest standard of health services including reproductive health care.
“If we are to learn any lesson from this pandemic, let it be that going forward, we have to do things differently with regard to the health and well-being of our people.”
The pandemic has taught us lessons of strengthening our resilience and doing things differently during challenging times.
He said the most urgent need for the country is to put in place measures to ensure universal access to reliable healthcare.
“COVID-19 found us off-guard with inadequate preventive health services while the curative services were equally wanting, with the best reserved for the elite who can pay for it.
“In the current pandemic, even the elite driven approach has been tested and found below expectation. There are only so many hospitals and so many beds even for those with money,” Raila said.
The opposition chief further rooted for an arrangement where the insurance fund is committed in revenue raising ventures to bring more Kenyans under the cover without incurring out-of-pocket expenses.
It became clear that universal healthcare cannot entirely be financed by the exchequer.
“Going forward, while we must relentlessly pursue the implementation of Universal Health Coverage and the requisite legal and institutional reforms needed, we need to urgently pay attention to the following,” he added.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)