The government has set aside KSh2 billion to buy insurance for the poor and orphans. This will enable them access medical care. Health Principal Secretary Dr Muraguri said the move will ease burden on those who cannot afford high medical costs.
Speaking during the State House Health Summit at State House, Nairobi, on Tuesday, Dr Muraguri said the Government has increased the number of Intensive Care Units (ICUs) across the country to handle more emergencies.
“Since independence, there were only two ICUs in the country – Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and Kenyatta Hospital National Hospital (KNH) but the government has been increasing centres to handle ICU and other emergencies,” he said.
“Kenya government is going to put aside Ksh2 billion to buy insurance for the poor and orphans. From October, we will also have 11 ICUs across Kenya. We have 10,000 people on dialysis daily and have decentralized the facilities to have dialysis in the counties.”
The PS said that 30 per cent of the cost of healthcare in Kenya goes to medicine – which he said he was lobbing to have them go down. “We are applying best practices to reduce cost of medicines through parallel imports.
Speaking at the same event, Health CS Dr Cleopa Mailu said the health equipment are costly and can’t be in each and every health institution in the foreseeable future.
The Director of Medical Services Dr Jackson Kioko noted that the number of mothers dying in Kenya had dropped from 6,000 to 4,000 annually because of investments put in place by the State and private sector.
KNH CEO Lily Koros observed that meals offered to chemotherapy patients are given on humanitarian grounds, and that they do not charge patients. “We’ve been able to provide meals to chemotherapy patients in the morning as they wait for treatment,” she noted. There had been accusations that most patients at KNH are neglected.
A medical practioner Dr Maxwel Okoth said healthcare needs partnerships, adding that Government can’t satisfy all needs of Kenyans.