Healthcare coverage still woefully inadequate for most Kenyans

Even as the effects of the nurses strikes continues to be felt across the country, it is tragic that most of those who are ill in Kenya can barely afford to pay for their treatment.

Millions of patients are falling into poverty due to high out-of-pocket payments for healthcare, going by the latest World Health Organisation estimates.

Health authorities in Afya House seem powerless to stem this tide, and are seemingly unable to efficiently provide access to essential health services, medicines and vaccines for all. This limits the country’s ability to achieve universal health coverage in line with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals adopted by governments in 2015.

And even though access to quality healthcare is a constitutional right, millions of Kenyans cannot afford to pay for medical services at public or private clinics.

Health authorities must expand the medical coverage beyond the 20 per cent of the population that now has access to some form of insurance. One of the ways to improve health services and help in the roll out of universal health coverage is through the use of new technology.

This was one of the proposals at the recent WHO Africa Health Forum in Rwanda. Integrating technology into the healthcare system is key to opening it up to the poorest and most vulnerable people in the country.

The focus must now be on forging new partnerships between governments, UN agencies, civil society organisations and the private sector to deliver universal health coverage. Tragically funds set aside by most African governments is woefully inadequate, mostly due to the high cost involved in providing treatment.

The use telecommunications to improve the livelihood of patients deserves consideration largely because it would make providing treatment cheaper.

Health authorities can work with telecommunication firms to set up telephone helplines and text message appointment reminders in addition to remote patient monitoring. With these interventions, Kenya can move closer to providing universal health coverage to a majority of its population.