Yes, affordable healthcare is no rocket science

[Photo: Courtesy]

That the cost of healthcare continues to devastate families in Kenya cannot be gainsaid. Previously well-to-do individuals have been reduced to paupers by escalating costs of medication. The poor have not been spared either and their suffering is more pronounced because majority end up dying from diseases that could be addressed with enough resources. How we address that imbalance in healthcare should be a major concern for the Government, the Health Ministry, medical practitioners and the health insurers, both private and public.

Stakeholder engagement should always have in mind the huge gap between the rich and the destitute. It is also unfair that cartel-like healthcare providers have denied majority of Kenyans decent medication by hiking the cost of treatment and drugs. It is common knowledge that some medical establishments are making a kill from the sick without flinching. They exaggerate consultation fees, cost of drugs and even propose expensive procedures, especially if a patient has a health insurance cover. It is callous to seek abnormal profits from an ailing man or woman, but this does not mean a career in medicine should not pay.