Africa-Press – Kenya. Githunguri Member of Parliament Gathoni Wamuchomba on Tuesday, November 12, wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Moses Wetangula, seeking adjournment of house business to debate the Social Health Insurance Fund(SHIF).
The legislator wanted Wetangula to consider her request for adjournment, arguing that the SHIF system has several inefficiencies.
“There exists a growing uncertainty and confusion on the Implementation of SHIF countrywide. This Morning I wrote to the Speaker of the National Assembly asking to adjourn the house business to Debate on SHIF,’’ Wamuchomba stated.
“Achieving this requires fundamental changes to create a health system that can deliver. The current system is riddled with inefficiencies and fragmentation. The resources and funds are either misused or overused resulting in substandard health outcomes. Kenya has been on a journey to fix the healthcare system to make it more equal, accessible, and affordable for all,’’ she added.
“The lawmaker further argued that the government failed to adhere to a court order that declared certain sections of the Social Health Insurance Act unconstitutional, yet proceeded with the rollout.
Wamuchomba also noted that Parliament was given 90 days to review the suspended provisions, but is yet to act on this despite the rollout. According to the lawmaker, numerous legal cases concerning the SHIF are still pending in court, making it inappropriate for the government to proceed with implementing the program.
“In this regard and the above explained grave situation, I wish to indulge you to consider as a matter of priority to adjourn the business of the house on 12th November 2024 to debate and deliberate on resolving the deplorable health crisis facing the country,” Wamuchomba stated in her letter.
“I want to draw your attention to the fact that on 19 July 2024, the High Court declared some provisions of the Social Health Insurance Act (SHIA), the Digital Health Act (DHA), and the Primary Health Care Act (PHCA) unconstitutional but suspended the effect of its judgment for 120 days to allow for Parliament to make amendments to the inherent unconstitutional provisions and public participation in the respective Acts. This is yet to be done by Parliament. There are still legal challenges in court on the implementation of SHIF,” the lawmaker added.
Wamuchomba said that the SHIF system was set for failure after what she termed as a public admission from top government officials as challenges that the SHIF scheme was marred with.
The lawmaker, known for her hard stand on public interest matters, asked Wetangula to set aside Tuesday afternoon to discuss the health crisis facing the country.
This, she highlighted, was particularly important as most Kenyans depend on the facilities for access to medical care.
“Further, Cabinet Secretary and other top Ministry officials have publicly admitted severally that new health insurance system is facing challenges and was reverting to a manual system,” Wamuchomba stated.
‘’It has also emerged that most of the counties have not signed an Intergovernmental Participatory Agreement (IPA) with the implementation authority (SHA) yet most of the health facilities are run by counties and are responsible for the primary healthcare services,’’ she added.
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