A section of the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) cardholders may soon be denied treatment following a standoff by the Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO).
KUCO Secretary-General George Gibore, on Sunday, revealed that clinical officers (COs) have been forced to seek approvals from medical officers before authorising billing of NHIF-registered patients for medical procedures within their purview.
Gibore warned that all clinical officers will embark on demonstrations should NHIF fail to address their concerns.
"If I want to do any scan for any patient, I have to find a medical officer to give me their registration number yet they will not come to interpret the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan," the Secretary-General lamented.
Issuing a 14-day ultimatum, the Union demanded that NHIF makes a clear statement on the stalemate and recalls all the forms they have provided that limit operations by the clinical officers.
"We will stop offering services to any patient that is NHIF-accredited in all facilities and we’ll be camping at the NHIF offices," the union's boss warned.
On his part, KUCO's chairperson Peterson Wachira faulted NHIF for failing to accredit clinical officers terming regulations by the agency unlawful.
"The NHIF has unilaterally decided to limit us to offer services to NHIF-accredited patients something that is contrary to any law.
"They have adopted a skewed accreditation system that keeps medical costs high," Wachira decried.
Calling out county governments for deliberately excluding COs in hospital management, KUCO noted that over 70 per cent of services provided in health centres are facilitated by the COs.
KUCO also accused the Ministry of Health of sidelining the officers in the rollout of the universal healthcare initiative which is part of the Big Four Agenda.
