Wednesday, October 2, 2024 - The new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) has continued to attract criticism over how the government intends to pilot the program even as reports emerged that most private hospitals were yet to get formal contracts from the government.
Speaking during an interview,
Kenya Rural, and Private Hospital Association Chairperson Brian
Lishenga revealed that most players in the private healthcare industry are
convinced the sector is not adequately prepared for the rollout even as the
government maintains a brave face that all is well.
Lishenga maintained that
private hospitals are ill-equipped for the transition and went so far as to say
that not a single private healthcare provider had a contract with the
Social Health Authority (SHA).
"We are not ready and
even across the country, there is no single health provider that I know of that
has a contract with SHA,’’ Lishenga revealed.
He added that the government
seemed to have embarked on a desperate move to try to reach out to them to get
their contracts with the new health scheme.
"As at yesterday, we were
scrambling nationwide to get contracts to providers,’’
This happened even as the
government insisted that everything was ready for their rollout.
The State has urged Kenyans who
had not registered for the new insurance scheme to get their details updated
for them to access medical services across Kenyan hospitals.
Lishenga stated that even
despite their cooperation, there seemed to be reluctance on the part of the
government to get the contracts ready on time.
The Kenyan DAILY POST
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