The Committee on Health in the National Assembly on Friday toured the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret City, Uasin Gishu, to oversee implementation of projects, budget appropriation, and legal matters.
Speaking during the tour, the Chairman of the Health Committee, Robert Pukose, lauded the effective services offered to the citizens as he encouraged the MTRH administration to keep up their good work of ensuring good services and cleanliness as well.
He expressed concern over the challenges when it comes to transitioning from the initial National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the newly adopted Social Health Authority (SHA), noting that it required a lot of sensitisation in terms of updating details online, especially for communities at the grassroots who do not possess smartphones or have no access to cyber services.
“We have done our tour, and we are interested in the services that the wananchi are being offered here at MTRH despite little challenges when it comes to transitioning from NHIF to SHA, where it requires a lot of sensitisations so that wananchi get assisted on the transition,” noted Pukose.
“This is critical, especially for those who do not have smartphones and might not be able to reach where we have cyber so that their details can be properly entered into the SHA system. But despite that, we think that from the feedback, I think the system should be able to look for a way on how those people without smartphones can be helped update their details,” he added.
He affirmed that at the MTRH, no patient has been turned away to purchase medicine outside or for lack of medical cover.
He urged the private sector to join hands together with the government as he called on the private hospitals not to turn away patients because of the little challenges with the transition, which he believed could be addressed in no time to ensure every Kenyan is able to access health care services.
“We have walked around and seen patients lining up in numbers, which indicates that the services in the facility are good. We have not encountered any patient who complained that they have been turned away or sent to purchase medicine, and if any, we welcome them to present their issues to the committee for further investigation to find out what happened,” he said.
The Health Committee Chair, dispelled rumours alleging that patients were turned away due to lack of smartphones or to go to purchase medicine outside, terming them propaganda meant to disrupt government efforts to offer efficient access to health care services to every Kenyan.
He mentioned that the committee spent a lot of time at the renal dialysis and cancer units because they wanted to understand more since there have been people who have been coming on social media claiming they have not been able to access those specialised services, but according to their findings, things are working out well at the largest referral facility in the region.
He asked Kenyans with issues with SHA to call a 24-hour toll-free line, 0800720601, so that they could be assisted.
By Ekuwam Sylvester
