Health Cabinet Secretary (CS), Susan Nakhumicha announced that the government will have Kenyans participate in a fresh registration process for the Social Healthcare Insurance Fund (SHIF).
Speaking in a public participation exercise at Wote Makueni County, the CS emphasised that Kenyans will have to register afresh for the new health coverage in a process which she termed as seamless.
Further details of the registration revealed that during the initial registration of the SHIF, Kenyans will have to conduct a self-registration process.
According to the CS, the self-registration process is expected to reduce costs for the onboarding process as well as ensure an un-eventful registration process.
“The planned fresh member registration to SHA will be done seamlessly with minimal impact on Kenyans. It will also keep costs as low as possible through initial self-registrations,” CS Nakhumicha.
During the event, the CS also shared that the digitisation of the Social Health Authority would be a key pillar in achieving medical health portability.
The CS further disclosed that the new SHIF will cover services, such as assistive devices, in a bid to expand the scope of health care coverage.
Fresh registration of the SHIF will be in line with the government’s directive issued on January 22 that instructed the mandatory registration of all Kenyans to SHIF.
Additionally, the government also set the mandatory age for registration as 25 amidst speculations for the new health coverage.
However, the programme has been met with a lot of opposition with the government finally getting the reprieve to implement the Act on January 19 after the Court of Appeal lifted orders that had barred its implementation.
Further various organisations have raised opposition to its implementation with the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentist’s Union (KMPDU) rejecting the proposed fees citing that they are exorbitant.
However, the Government has maintained that its implementation is significant and will include mandatory registration for Kenyans in the informal sector.
