President William Ruto Promises On Healthcare

• Promises Made - Kenya President
• 2 Years, 9 Months ago
• 375

President William Ruto Promises On Healthcare

Kenya Kwanza Commitment

We are committed and determined to realise the constitutional right to health in the shortest time possible by delivering a Universal Health Coverage (UHC) system built on three pillars as follows:

• Provide National Health Insurance Fund coverage for all of Kenyans without exclusion in the policy of “Leaving No One Behind”;

• Employ and initiate payment for community health workers who shall form part of the Primary Health Care system;

• Prioritise employment of 20,000 healthcare workers- doctors, nurses, clinical officers, laboratory technologists, physiotherapists, among others, to bridge the gap according to WHO recommendations of 23 HC per 10,000 population;

• Set up an emergency medical treatment fund to cater for emergency, cancer treatment and referrals;

• Establish a commission for the management of human resources for health without undermining devolution;

• Set aside Sh50 billion for Kenya Association of Retired Officers medical schemes;

• We shall harmonise the terms of employment for all healthcare workers in the spirit of equal work for equal pay;

• Integrate preventive and promotive services/ establish MDT (a primary healthcare approach) as envisioned in our Afya Bora Mashinani;

• Set aside a seed deposit amount of Sh100 billion into co-funding the strategic programs for HIV, tuberculosis, blood transfusion, malaria, family planning and reproductive health;

• Ring-fence funds for healthcare from facility improvement funds to allocations from the Treasury in collaboration with county governments;

• Bringing the cost of treatment down, (drugs, consultation, laboratory services, imaging services.);

• We will build up our supply chain management system (KEMSA) to ensure efficiency and accountability in the medical supplies to all health facilities;

• Integrate Information Communication and Technology systems to enhance telemedicine and health management information systems.

Immediately operationalise a National Health Information System for Electronic Health Records (EHR) to standardise and ensure the portability of patient data Implementation and Reforms Primary Healthcare System We recognise that our healthcare system consists of public, private and faith-based providers, and each of them plays a critical role.

Presently, however, public money only goes to public institutions, which means that people who are not insured have to pay out-of-pocket for primary health services at faith-based and private providers, often because the public health facilities are not responsive. We believe that Kenyans should have choice, and they should use their tax money where they get the best value.

To this end, we will delink financing of primary healthcare from public facilities by establishing stakeholder managed Primary Health Care (PHC) Funds as strategic purchasers at each “Level 4” facility.

Health Commodity Supply

We will establish a stakeholder-managed national procurement scheme (along the lines of the petroleum products procurement) to leverage on bulk purchase and ensure transparency and accountability in the public procurement process.

KEMSA scandals must end. Pharmaceuticals and consumable medical supplies account for an estimated 20 per cent of total health expenditures, which translates to a domestic market worth Sh110 billiom. Pharmaceutical imports in 2020 were Sh76 billion (70 per cent of the Sh110 billion estimated market), meaning that when other imported supplies are factored in, domestic production supplies are less than 20 per cent.

Domestic pharmaceutical manufacturers have the capacity to manufacture a bigger share competitively, but are hampered by the high cost of doing business and a hash tax regime (to the extent of shifting manufacturing to neighbouring EAC countries and exporting to Kenya).

We will:

(a) Work with the pharmaceutical industry to address the tax regime and cost of doing business;

(b) Leverage on UHC to identify and scale up manufacturing of essential supplies we can do competitively;

(c) Leverage on our human per capita to work towards a regional pharmaceutical manufacturing hub.

Human Resources

Our health professionals feel shortchanged by devolution of health services. They are of the view that they, and health services in general, would be better served by a centralised system similar to that of teachers, noting that the Teachers Service Comission (TSC) is entrenched in the Constitution.

SOURCE: Citizen Digital

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