Health Cabinet Secretary, Susan Nakhumicha on Wednesday provided new categorisations for hospitals to be registered under the Social Healthcare Act.
The CS, while speaking to the National Assembly Health Committee disclosed that her Ministry ascertained that some hospitals were highly categorised under the National Health Insurance Fund.
This fostered corruption as the hospitals were paid based on high NHIF rates that were fraudulent. As such, all hospitals will undergo a new categorisation for them to be registered under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).
Under the new categorisation level 1 hospitals will be community facilities run by certified medical clinical officers while level 2 hospitals will be health facilities.
Health centres will be categorised at level 3, category 4 which is the district hospitals, and district referral hospitals qualify to be under level 5 hospital rankings. The highest ranking will be level 6 which are the national referral hospitals.
Further Nakhumicha clarified that the categorisation will be undertaken by the Kenyan Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) as the lead agency.
She explained that the council led by secretary general, Davji Atellah, will be responsible for inspecting, categorising and licensing hospitals.
According to Nakhumicha, the exercise will ensure that the health sector is free of fraud associated with health facilities as witnessed under NHIF.
"We have found that there are hospitals that are categorised as level 4 when they are actually level 2," noted Ms Nakhumicha.
President William Ruto on Thursday, February 15, stated that the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) deductions will commence on March 1.
He added that the monthly contributions paid to NHIF will drop by Ksh200, from Ksh500 to Ksh300 for most Kenyans with his administration covering the costs for beneficiaries who cannot afford to pay.
“An assessment will be done to determine who qualifies for the subsidy so that every Kenyan can access healthcare services without straining,” Ruto stated, adding that SHIF would lower the cost of healthcare in the country.
All Kenyans will be registered afresh under the new scheme within 90 days of the gazettement of the commencement date. However, the current National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) cards will be valid until December 2024.
