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Threat to shut down hospitals uncalled for

Medical Services Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai during an event on August 6, 2024 at Afya House.

Photo credit: Billy Ogada | Nation

Threats by Medical Services Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai to shut down private hospitals that do not offer services to patients under the Social Health Authority (SHA) are misplaced and illogical.

The government should first ensure that the billions of shillings it owes to the private facilities under the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and SHA are paid promptly before making such threats.

By making such threats, Mr Kimtai is putting universal health coverage in jeopardy because private hospitals constitute almost 50 per cent of the country’s facilities.

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Is the PS ready to meet the cost of operations the private hospitals are incurring as they serve patients?

Mr Kimtai used to provide weekly media updates towards the end of last year on how the government was paying the NHIF claims to public, faith-based and private hospitals. In fact, there was a time when he said that the government was only remaining with about Sh5 billion as pending payments.

The PS is also questioning why the private facilities are demanding old debts, forgetting that once in the government, you take full responsibility of even mistakes committed by predecessors. Why is he talking about auditing the amount of money the government owed private facilities? Does it mean that the figures he was giving last year were fake?

No business enterprise can run at a loss the way Mr Kimtai wants the hospitals to. Just pay up or shut up.

It is time legislators took a keen interest in this thorny and sensitive issue because President William Ruto seems reluctant or has intentionally failed to intervene. Damson Opiyo Onger, Kisumu

Using threats to evade the problems facing SHA is not the way to go. The threats being thrown by the Health ministry at private hospitals are uncalled for.

Instead, the ministry should listen to the hospitals and pay pending bills.

Solving problems facing SHA should be the key priority instead of issuing threats of shutting down private hospitals which are an integral part of health care.

Roselyne Karisa, Mombasa