President William Ruto on Sunday urged Kenyans to register to the Social Health Authority (SHA) in order to provide the data that is required for the government to efficiently plan on health services delivery across the country.
While speaking during a church service at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Moiben located in Uasin Gishu County, Ruto said that most of the problems being faced were because Kenyans had not provided their information by registering as required.
“I want to ask every Kenyan to register because once you register we will have the data to help us plan on how we will deliver health services to Kenyans. Everyone has to register themselves and the process is free,” Ruto stated.
“This is so that anytime we are planning on service delivery, we will know how many people are in each region, how many hospitals and how much medicine we need to provide so that we can stop planning health matters in an arbitrary manner.”
Ruto went further to acknowledge that he was aware of the challenges Kenyans were facing during the transition but noted that this was expected.
“I know we have had challenges because we are transitioning from what it was to the new model and in every transition there will be challenges. Those challenges we are managing. Last week, we released funds to help hospitals and dispensaries across Kenya and next week, we will continue to provide more money until we ensure that the transition is complete,” Ruto said.
Ruto went on to promise Kenyans that the government was committed to seeing the transition through and would continue funding it until every Kenyan was completely covered. For its success however, he urged Kenyans to join in the efforts and register as required.
“We must use the benefit of having data and that is the reason why we are asking every Kenyan to register so that we can be able to plan our health as a nation. We can be able to know what is disease load in what area and we can be able to plan ahead of time how to deliver the relevant medicines, the relevant human capital.”
Reiterating on what the governors before him had said, Ruto stated that the governors and officials from the Ministry of Health were in the process of wrapping up meetings discussing how medical equipment would be distributed across Kenya to ensure every health facility is well equipped.
“Because this time round we must get our health in the right place. So I would like to ask all of us to collaborate and both health committees in the Senate and the National Assembly to make sure that we shepherd and guide this programme so that it benefits every Kenyan,” Ruto said.
The president wrapped up his address on SHA by thanking all Kenyans who had since registered and noted that the number was steadily going up and stood at almost 13 million. He also urged Kenyans to remember to add their dependents.
“When you register, if you are a man, do not just register yourself, add your wife and your children so that the data can be complete and we can ensure every family is covered under our plan.”
