• A team has been tasked with assessing the cost of healthcare in the country, what Kenyans are charged in various health facilities especially in the private sector.
• The idea is to place a cap on certain bills levied on patients and setting limits on how much should be charged especially in the private sector.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
The Health ministry has warned health facilities against holding bodies due to huge bills accrued in the course of treatment.
The ministry has also set up a team in efforts to sort out the unending issue of patients held in hospitals due to failure to clear their medical bills.
The team has been tasked with assessing the cost of healthcare in the country, rates in various health facilities especially in the private sector then come up with solutions.
Kenya’s healthcare system is made up of the public, private, faith-based and NGO-run facilities.
About 48 per cent are public and operate under the Health ministry, 41 per cent are in the private sector, eight per cent are faith-based health services while around three per cent are run by NGOs.
Health CAS Rashid Aman said the idea is to place a cap on certain bills levied on patients and setting limits on how much should be charged especially in the private sector.
“The cost of drugs is also so unregulated and we need to have some caps on this. There is a discussion going on and I hope that we will come up with lasting solutions for these problems,” Aman said.
“It is because of these issues and the burden that it places on Kenyans that the UHC came up, to deal with these issues in a universal way. This includes providing cover for particular benefits that a Kenyan does not have to pay out of his pocket,” he added.
Healthcare services in public hospitals is free for some services such as maternity care and for those with national health insurance, in-patient treatment is free.
However, healthcare services provided by private hospitals, faith-based institutions and NGOs usually comes at a cost and charges will vary.
Only about 20 per cent of Kenyans have some form of health insurance coverage.
The Health CS Mutahi Kagwe said the ministry banks on the proposed NHIF Act to help sort out the high costs of treatment in the country that has remained relatively high compared to other countries such as India and Thailand.
“The whole idea of the NHIF Act will be to create a regulatory framework to limit the costs of some of these things,” Kagwe said.
“For example there is no reason why an XRAY in KNH should cost Sh600 or Sh700 while in Nairobi Hospital or MP Shah it is Sh7,000 or Sh8,000. There is no reason at all as to why NHIF should agree to pay the higher amount while in fact the machines at KNH are better,” he added.
The government-backed National Hospital Insurance Fund (Amendment) Bill will see all adults compelled to pay Sh500 monthly or Sh6,000 annually in a remodelled UHC scheme for outpatient and inpatient services, including maternity, dialysis, cancer treatment and surgery.
“The regulations that we are going to produce will limit these things, will limit the amount of money we are prepared to pay per bed, in any hospital be it be public or private,” the CS said.
The NHIF board will determine the rate which unemployed youth will pay to the Fund.
Employers with workers earning less than Sh12,000 will also be compelled to top up their employees’ contributions to the NHIF.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)