Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa on Monday proposed an increase in daily funding for the intensive care unit (ICU) and cancer-related treatment by the government in a bid to help Kenyans offset the high medical bills they face when seeking healthcare services.
Speaking during the inaugural national and county governments health summit, hosted by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki at his official residence in Nairobi, Barasa revealed that the government had revised the benefits provided to Kenyans.
According to the CS, these benefits were part of the changes the government is implementing within the Social Health Authority (SHA) and the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) packages to enable Kenyans to access affordable healthcare services.
“We have revised the benefits and tariffs package. There is additional funding through the supplementary budget to facilitate an increase in ICU funding,” Barasa announced.
The revision means that the government will adjust the funds allocated to ICU patients by more than Ksh24,000, up from the current Ksh4,480.
Additionally, cancer patients seeking oncology services at accredited facilities will enjoy an additional allocation of Ksh150,000 up from the current Ksh400,000 per day.
''Previously we were at Ksh4,480 but we are happy to report that now ICU will benefit from Ksh28,000 per day,'' the CS stated.
''Equally for oncology services, we are happy to report that previously we were at Ksh400,000, and following concerns from the public, we have been able to increase the same to Ksh550,000. This is an additional increase of Ksh150,000 for the oncology cases,'' she added.
Barasa added that,'' After review the revised benefits will go through the legal processes for gazettement.''
Overseas Treatment
In response to numerous complaints from Kenyans about the hardships they face when seeking specialized treatment abroad, the CS stated that the government has taken deliberate steps to address the issue.
According to Barasa, Kenyans will be able to access the services and a pool of additional benefits once the intergovernmental stakeholder engagement is completed.
Furthermore, the CS noted that the process had been delayed by several factors, including the accreditation and contracting of foreign healthcare providers to ensure the government could remit payments upon the fulfilment of their contractual obligations.
“Another concern that has come up from Kenyans is the issue of overseas treatment. The SHIF Act provides for the overseas purchasing of healthcare services that are not available locally,” she highlighted.
“However, this requires accreditation, empanelment, and contracting of providers at overseas facilities, so we continue working on facilitating overseas treatment.”
To achieve this promptly, the CS announced that there was an ongoing exercise between the Ministry of Health and the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) to review patients seeking treatment outside Kenya.
Meanwhile, the CS decried the fact that some patients travel abroad under the pretext of seeking treatment, only to end up defrauding the government of treatment funds, which instead go into their own pockets.
“It is important that they go through the KMPDC and the Ministry of Health before they can be cleared because we have had challenges with patients going to facilities that have not undergone the proper accreditation and requesting money to be sent to bank accounts, and so on,” Barasa urged.
Currently, the government, through the UHC packages, provides all-inclusive funding of KSh 500,000 to patients seeking treatment abroad, according to data from the ministry.
