The Council of Governors (CoG) has called for the immediate resignation of Health Cabinet Secretary Debora Barasa and Permanent Secretary for Medical Services Harry Kimutai.
While speaking on the ongoing crisis in the health sector that has since seen medical practitioners down their tools in most parts of the country, the CoG has blamed the stalled service on the CS and the PS.
CoG Whip Stephen Sang has blamed Barasa and Kimutai for wanting to sabotage President William Ruto's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) agenda, and that is why they were paralyzing the sector.
"I am wondering if the Health CS and PS want to sabotage the president's agenda on UHC. If you want to sabotage the agenda, then resign from those offices and allow other qualified Kenyans who can be able to deliver the services,' Sang said.
According to the CoG Whip, the country cannot be experiencing a nationwide strike while in the middle of the transition from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA).
Now, the CoG has revealed that it will summon the CS Barasa and the PS Kimutai to explain why the country's healthcare system is failing.
"As the CoG, we will take it to head on with the CS and PS, we cannot allow you to create an additional crisis around the UHC provision when we already have other problems about registration, capitation, and other issues we should be sorting out," Sang assured.
The country has been facing an array of issues in the medical sector. Doctors in Nairobi County officially downed their tools on Friday amidst an ongoing strike by clinical officers and contracted health workers under the UHC.
KMPDU Chairman, Nairobi branch revealed that doctors could not continue to offer their services over illegal salary stoppages and dismissals, chronic salary delays, stalled promotions, unpaid gratuities for contracted doctors, and delayed confirmation letters for interns.
"The problem is the government is not heeding to its promises; we had an agreement in 2023 that they never met, and now they are telling us to write another matrix where they will affect the promises," Dr Deogracious Maero, KMPDU Chairman, Nairobi, said.
Apart from the strikes, a section of patients under the Rural & Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA) scheme who use SHA are currently not getting health services.
RUPHA attributed the pause to unpaid NHIF arrears, an unworkable outpatient reimbursement model, and government inaction in addressing persistent challenges.
On its part, the Ministry of Health has continually assured Kenyans, doctors and relevant stakeholders that it is working to ensure the sector runs smoothly.
