NHIF begins trial of cheap out-patient care for all

By Joel Okwayo

Wananchi are set to benefit from a new scheme that makes it easier and cheaper to see a doctor.

This will reduce the number of people turning to quacks and herbalists. It will also mean fewer people detained or turned away from hospitals for failing to pay bills.

Affordable outpatient services will now be possible for more people through membership of the National Hospital Insurance Fund. The fund, which has only been paying in-patient bills for its members, yesterday rolled out an outpatient cover pilot project. This will initially be tested in Nairobi and Mumias to ensure it caters for urban and rural communities adequately. If the six-month pilot project runs successfully, all Kenyans will be able to join the scheme.

Medical Services Minister Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, who officiated at the scheme’s rollout ceremony in Mumias town, said a national social insurance scheme was being developed to benefit patients at all levels.

Patients wait for treatment at a health facility. New NHIF health insurance scheme for outpatients will enable many to access healthcare. [PHOTO: FILE/STANDARD]

With more than 400 accredited hospitals across the country including Government, faith-based and private hospitals, NHIF is the most widely available medical cover in the country. If its outpatient scheme were rolled out successfully, it would significantly alter the outpatient insurance landscape.

"The Government has prepared a Cabinet paper that will make social healthcare accessible to all Kenyans," said the minister.

Water Minister Charity Ngilu mooted a similar scheme when she was in the Ministry of Health in 2002 but it never saw the light of day. A Bill seeking to legalise the scheme disappeared from Parliament’s Order Paper then and the matter never surfaced again.

Treasury officials argued the scheme would be too costly. Yesterday Nyong’o said the scheme Ngilu had sought to initiate to give Kenyans accessible healthcare was being revived.

Pilot programme

Nyong’o said the pilot programme would help NHIF and his ministry to ensure all Kenyans have access to affordable healthcare.

The minister said that Ghana has the best healthcare for its citizens while Kenya lags behind yet it has the capacity of meeting the health needs of its people.

"We are moving to an era where health centres and dispensaries will enjoy NHIF services," said Nyong’o

NHIF Chief Executive Officer Richard Kerich said the scheme would cover outpatients in public and private medical facilities.

"We are reaching out to the poor people to ensure they enjoy medical cover even when getting treatment from their homes," said Kerich.

He said many people are subjected to suffering due lack of a medical cover. "Many people cannot access medical care due to lack of covers such as our out-patient scheme," he added.

Kerich said Mumias sugar zone, which has over 60,000 sugar cane farmers, has been chosen as one of the rural areas where the cover will be implemented first.

The official launch ceremony took place at Mumias Booker Tate Complex. Western Deputy PC Peter Okwanyo and the Western Provincial Medical Officer Dr Godtrick Onyango also addressed the function.

Lower prices

Nyong’o urged medical practitioners to bring down the cost of medical care to reduce suffering among Kenyans.

The NHIF card will be redesigned to give the medical history of the patient whenever they visit health facilities for easy diagnosis and prescription.

The outpatient cover will be another milestone in NHIF’s growth. Only three year’s ago, the fund that used to pay only a fraction of in-patient bills started paying the full bills, and has since seen an increase in the new membership.

 

 

Read all about: National Hospital Insurance Fund Medical Services

 

 

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