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Five Principal Secretaries (PSs) have urged Kenyans to register with the Social Health Authority (SHA) to access free and affordable medical care.
Led by Interior Principal Secretary Dr Raymond Omollo, the officials said the SHA is currently the only national medical programme through which Kenyans can access healthcare services without straining their financial resources.
Speaking at Kendu Adventist Hospital in Karachuonyo Constituency during celebrations to mark the facility’s centenary yesterday, Dr Omollo said the SHA had enabled many vulnerable families to access treatment they could not otherwise afford.
“When we rolled out the SHA in October last year, there was a lot of negative noise intended to pressure the government into reverting to the defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF). But to date, SHA has helped many families access medication,” he said.
He was accompanied by his counterparts Dr Ouma Oluga (Medical Services), Mary Muthoni (Public Health), Boniface Makokha (Economic Planning), and Kipronoh Rono (Agriculture), who also championed the call for nationwide registration.
Dr Omollo expressed concern that SHA uptake remained worryingly low. He cited Homa Bay County as an example, saying it was ranked 13th in the country for SHA registration, with only 44 per cent of the targeted population enrolled.
Dr Oluga said the government had allocated more than Sh20 billion to fund the SHA. He also urged hospital administrators to improve service delivery in order to enhance patient satisfaction.
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