Kitui County has begun enlisting 200,000 households to the Universal Health Coverage. The programme seeks to guarantee medical cover to all residents.
Governor Charity Ngilu will unveil the health insurance scheme, whose primary focus is to cushion the vulnerable households.
Already, 85,000 families from across the county’s 40 electoral wards have been identified to benefit from the subsided health insurance cover after Governor Ngilu signed a partnership with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF).
In the ambitious programme that improves on the existing Kitui County Health Insurance Cover (KCHIC), the county has partnered with the NHIF to support families by paying half of their annual health insurance subscription of Sh,3000.
The Kitui governor said in the new health insurance scheme, the county will contribute Sh3,000 annually for each of the targeted households while the beneficiaries will top up Sh3,000 foe the Sh6,000 annual cover.
Ms Ngilu said with the launch of the universal health coverage programme under NHIF, residents of Kitui County will no longer have to choose between food and medical care.
“We’ve improved on K-CHIC which has served us since 2018 because it limited residents to only health facilities within Kitui County. But with NHIF cover, patients can access healthcare from more than 8,000 public and private hospitals countrywide,” she said.
Speaking when she flagged off the distribution of medical supplies to the county’s 298 health facilities, the governor said universal health coverage can no longer remain in government books as a policy and challenged other governors to implement the same in their counties.
The Kitui insurance scheme, which covered about 180,000 households provided referrals within the county, mortuary services for up to seven days, ambulance services within the county, inpatient bills for up to 24 hours after the discharge date, curative, preventive, rehabilitative and specialised services within the county in all public health facilities.
But with the improved NHIF cover, residents will enjoy improved and more efficient health services both within and outside the county, including access to laboratory and radiology services, consultation for in and outpatient services, theatre services, cancer screening, medical drugs, nutrition services ambulance referral services, counselling, rehabilitative services, and family planning services.
According to the Memorandum of Understanding signed between NHIF and Kitui County on Monday, the county will cater for half of the annual subscription for all the identified families and the rest of the cost catered for by the individual households.
NHIF Chief Executive Peter Kamunyo said the partnership will help Kitui County reach up to 80 per cent population with health insurance, which guarantees high quality health services in a major step to liberate them from the disease burden.
“The beneficiaries will access health services from all NHIF-accredited health facilities within and out of Kitui County and the partnership is a significant boost in achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” said Dr Kamunyo.
Dr Kamunyo welcomed Governor Ngilu’s move to support poor families saying UHC is likely to succeed in Kitui because the county has 190 health facilities that have been accredited by NHIF, including the 14 level four hospitals.
In the deal, the county government will spend Sh300 million of its Sh3.7 billion health sector budget to support the poor families, in line with plans by the national government to actualise universal health coverage across the country.
Governor Ngilu said her administration had shifted gears to improve the KCHIC and reciprocate the special support extended to Kitui by President Uhuru Kenyatta, besides other interventions to modernise county health facilities.
This week, the governor has supervised the distribution of pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies to all the county’s 298 health facilities.
Governor Ngilu said in the last three years, her government had upgraded diagnostic equipment at the Kitui County Referral Hospital, including a state of the art CT scan facility ensuring all the 14 level four hospitals have theatres and X-ray facilities.
“In preparation for national UHC rollout, we are enhancing our service delivery and have already increased the number of medical facilities from 187 to 298, thereby reducing distances residents travel and improving access,” said Governor Ngilu.
“To ensure services run smoothly, we have put up operational theatres in Kitui, Mwingi, Mutomo, Ikutha, Migwani and Tseikuru county hospitals and are finalising similar theatres at Mutitu, Zombe, Kanyangi, and Kauwi hospitals,” she explained.
Governor Ngilu said she has overseen the most robust staffing of medical personnel ever witnessed in Kitui County, with over 102 doctors and specialists and that the quality of healthcare can only get better.
