Laikipia targets 90 per cent NHIF enrollments

County government of Laikipia has launched the second phase of registration into the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) program in an effort to see residents benefit from universal healthcare.
County officials led by Governor Ndiritu Muriithi, his Deputy Mr. John Mwaniki and MCAs from the county launched a door to door campaign in an effort to upscale NHIF enrolment from the current rate of 52 to 90 per cent by June 2019.
According to Governor Muriithi, so far, over 70, 000 households across the county have been registered to the program.
“This is one of my flagship projects and during the first phase of the programme that started early this year, we were able to enroll over 70, 000 households to the medical insurance scheme across the county. We are now targeting over 200, 000 households by June next year to hit the 90 percent target,” said the county boss in Nyahururu town on Monday.
The governor said that most residents did not afford to pay for quality healthcare and that was why he came up with the idea.
He said that it was regrettable to see families holding fundraising to offset medical bills. “I made this commitment when I was campaigning since this is one thing that has left many of my people poorer. We have developed an app where residents do not need to travel to NHIF centers but they will register via a mobile phone,” he noted.
He said that quality healthcare provision was part of his manifesto and that his administration would make sure that everybody access quality healthcare.
Mr. Muriithi added that his administration would also make sure that all public health facilities in the county were supplied with drugs on time.
“I will make sure that medicines are always available on time in all our health centers and hospitals. We should not even argue about this anymore as I have put my health officers on notice,” said Mr. Muriithi.
He said that major projects would be put up in Nanyuki and Nyahururu county referral hospitals including the construction of ultra-modern maternity wings.
“We will set up a substantial amount of money in our budget to uplift these hospitals so that they provide quality services to our people. Enough number of staff will also be deployed to all our health centers,” he pledged.
The county boss also inspected the ongoing construction of ultra-modern maternity wings at the Nyahururu county referral hospital, and ongoing roads uplifting projects within the town among other projects.
“We have talked with the contractors who are carrying out various projects and we have asked them to ensure that the projects are completed on time,” he added.
By Jesse Mwitwa