•Nakhumicha said at least 47 healthcare facilities will be connected to the digital infrastructure in the next six months.
•Health PS Harry Kimutai said the four health bills were key for the launch of UHC.
Image: HANDOUT
President William Ruto will on Thursday assent to the four health bills that will support his revamped Universal Health Coverage plan.
The National Assembly passed the bills on Tuesday morning.
Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha confirmed the President will assent to them before launching the UHC plan in Kericho on Friday at the Mashujaa Day celebrations.
“This will change healthcare as we know it to make it more accessible. We expect the President will assent to the bills on Thursday,” she said at the Kapkaket stadium where the ministry has organised a week-long UHC exhibition ahead of Mashujaa Day.
The bills are the Social Health Insurance Bill, Digital Health Bill, Primary Healthcare Bill and the Facility Improvement Financing Bill.
The Digital Health Bill aims to promote telemedicine and digitise health services by ending written transactions.
“We have ensured we’re taking care of the privacy of data such that health workers will only have access to only data they need. This will ensure full accountability,” Nakhumicha said.
Technical health officials will next week travel to Mombasa to finalise on regulations to support the four new laws. One official said they expect by December, those regulations will have gone through public participation and adopted by Parliament.
The Primary Healthcare Bill aims to strength preventive health services by co-opting the 100,000 community health promoters commissioned by the President recently.
The Social Health Insurance Bill abolishes the National Health Insurance Fund and creates three new funds: a Primary Health Care Fund, a Social Health Insurance Fund and a Chronic Illness and Emergency Fund.
The Facility Improvement Financing Bill will restrict funds raised in public health facilities so that those funds are not put to other uses outside of health.
The CS said at least 47 healthcare facilities will be connected to the digital infrastructure in the next six months.
Information and Communication Technology CS Eliud Owalo said the necessary infrastructure for digitised health services is already being laid down.
“The ministry [of ECT] is currently rolling out 100,000km of Fibre Backbone Infrastructure, targeting health facilities, schools, the Judiciary among other public institutions,” he said in a speech read by ICT Principal Secretary Edward Kisiangani.
The project will take five years and by June, the CS said they had done close to 30,000km
“Alongside this is the ongoing establishment of 25,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots in markets, bus parks and other public spaces. This government also intends to provide 1,450 village digital hubs, geared towards spurring e-commerce, the creative industry and the digital economy," Owalo said.
Health PS Harry Kimutai said the four health bills were key for the launch of UHC.
“Without proper legal framework, it will be very hard to achieve anything in the digital era. We have come up with the bills so that those who want to invest in it it's clear and we know clearly what’s the role of government and private sector,” he said.
“In the past every hospital was developing its own system but now we’ll have one system that integrates all of them. We also must ensure we protect the information that’s shared out there, so we need proper policies to protect them.”
He said the Digital Health Bill allows private developers to make systems for hospitals but they must be able to integrate into the government system.
He said the ability to exchange health information efficiently is paramount to delivering optimal healthcare, as it empowers medical providers to access patients' medical history, test results and other relevant information, regardless of their geographic location.