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Simon Tekan has been struggling to settle his medical bills. At times his family members have been forced to forego medication for lack of money, putting their health in danger.
However, the situation has changed after he signed up for National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) courtesy of the Kajiado County government Mbuzi Moja Afya Bora initiative.
Launched in September, the concept is to have a goat from every household that cannot not make the NHIF contribution. Each contributor from the informal sector pays Sh6,000 and this is what a goat fetches for a single household.
According to the arrangement, the families give up the goats to the county where one is rated at Sh7,500, with the Sh1,500 going towards logistics. “When I visit any public health facility, I’m no longer asked for money because of this card.” Even his family of ten is under the NHIF cover. I gave one goat and this enabled me to acquire the card and since then, medical bills are no longer a headache unlike before when I needed cash to go to any health facility,” says Tekan at his home in Olkiloriti.
About five kilometres from Tekan’s home, Janet Sirpan says she is a beneficiary of the programme after her family gave one goat for the cover last year.
“I have always had problems with my legs and before we registered, we at one point spent Sh10,000 for treatment. If we had this card we would not have spent that much,” Sirpan states.
There was skepticism when the governor Joseph ole Lenku’s administration launched the health insurance registration. While the county targeted to register 5,000 households under NHIF, only 3,500 were enrolled but the number could double during the second mass registration drive in August.
“Due to low uptake of health insurance, there would be waivers due to non-payment of bills accruing from medical expenses at the facilities around the county and outside and this led to limited access as facilities would turn away those who had no cover due to fear debt,” says Health CEC Esther Somoire.
“Those in the informal sector within the urban areas would pay Sh4,000 instead of Sh6,000 per year and the sale of the goats tops up the deficit.”
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