Ruto affirms commitment to Universal Health Coverage during address

President William Ruto makes his State of the Nation Address at Parliament, Nairobi, on November 9, 2023. [PCS]

President William Ruto has reaffirmed the implementation of the health agenda for the country through the enactment of ambitious Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Acts.

The Acts, according to the President, will enable all Kenyans to access quality healthcare.

During his State of the Nation address on Thursday, Ruto said the four Acts will guide the provision of all essential services from preventive, curative, palliative and rehabilitative services.

The laws, namely Primary Healthcare Act 2023, Facility Improvement Financing Act 2023, Digital Health Act 2023 and Social Health Insurance Act 2023 were assented by President Ruto last month.

“...the acts will usher in a new era in the provision of health care covering all essential services from preventive promotive curative palliative and Rehabilitative Services guaranteeing every Kenyan access, comprehensive and quality healthcare,” said President Ruto.

The Kenya Kwanza Government has identified healthcare delivery as one of the four pillars of the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).

The President said the Kenya Kwanza administration has also invested in human resources to guarantee smooth UHC programme implementation.

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At least 20,000 new healthcare workers have been employed by the government, in addition to 8,429 workers on contract.

The UHC programme was launched by the President in Kericho County last month.

Whereas health is devolved, the president said his Government is working with county governments to boost healthcare.

He said the Kenya Kwanza has further taken measures to resolve the perennial challenge of human resource management in the health sector cushioning strikes by establishing the Kenya Health Human Resource Advisory Council.

“The council will be a trusted mediator between government at both levels,” he said.

In the past, the county governments have witnessed disparity in the employment of staff, resulting in the delayed provision of care.

The president also emphasised his preventive and promotive health agenda through Community Health Promoters (CHP).

“We identified preventive care as an essential pillar of healthcare service delivery because it enables Kenyans to manage their conditions early enough before they cause serious harm to their well-being and productivity,” added the president during the address.

He added, “CHPs is our bottom-up intervention to deliver preventive and promotive Health Solutions at the grassroots.

The promoters he noted will visit Kenyans at their homes, provide basic diagnoses for common conditions and refer cases to appropriate medical facilities.

Collaboration between the national and county governments according to the president has seen recruitment and deployment of 100,000 CHPs to counties.

“CHPs are fully equipped with unnecessary tics and electronic Community Health Information System in the last month,” he said.

For the past month, the CHPs have attended to 1.2 million households.

According to the work structure, each CHP oversees 100 households and is paid Sh5,000 monthly stipends for their smooth operation.

The government has allocated Sh3 billion annually for payment of the stipends.

Apart from the provision of care at the household level, CHPs are also expected to reduce long queues witnessed in public hospitals across the country.

Banking on curative services according to the government has occasioned inequity in financing, which has disadvantaged primary healthcare uptake and promotion.

Mr Ruto said the Financial Improvement Act 2023 is also intended to establish a framework that confers financial autonomy to health facilities.

With the bill, money is generated at hospitals with a mandate to improve facilities' capacity to provide healthcare services within that locality.

Currently, there are no structures for utilisation of the funds, with most counties reported to divert hospital collection to other departments like roads and agriculture.

In addition, he said the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA) which is currently undergoing more reforms will deploy Information Communication Technology (ICT) to manage supply chains of essential health products and commodities.

KEMSA is the only government commodity and medical and commodity supplier.

“As a result of this small intervention, KEMSA has improved its stock stocking rate from 40 to 60 per cent in the last five months, and we are now targeting 80 per cent,” said the president.

Apart from efficiency, he said ICT is also key to transparency integrity and accountability.

According to UHC structures, all Kenyans will be expected to enrol on a medical health scheme the Social Health Authority which shall replace National Health Insurance.

Social Health Authority will be the financier to UHC.