Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) will open a fee charging private wing to enhance service delivery to the public and boost the facility’s dwindling revenue collection.
According to JOOTRH CEO Dr. George Rae, low funding by The Treasury has pushed the institution to venture and explore new grounds to maximize the revenue collection to facilitate the operations of the referral facility.
The private wing, he added, would offer world class health care services to clients at an affordable rate, thus, positioning the hospital as the leading health provider in the region.
With this development, patients would have to choose from the pool of services offered at JOOTRH at different rates. This implies that the sick would select the type of care or treatment for a condition and the preferred doctor.
Patients that would seek services at the new private wing would also have a shorter waiting time to see a doctor and have the privilege of staying in a private room more comfortably.
Among other the new measures announced in a new road map to be witnessed at JOOTRH include the establishment of a critical care unit, increasing the number of medical students enrolled at the JOOTRH training school, and introducing the service fee for people seeking nutrition advice.
In addition, Dr. Rae said the referral facility that serves Western Kenya and parts of North Rift would launch its private wing by end of June 2022, a move that will greatly turn around the hospital’s fortunes.
“The private wing which is ward seven is expected to be complete, fully furnished, and functioning in the next four weeks. After its completion, the unit will be professionally managed to be profitable to the public facility,” stated Dr. Rae.
He was speaking during the official opening ceremony of a seminar for JOOTRH’s Health Management Teams held in Kisumu.
Dr. Rae further revealed that the facility would venture into the hospitality industry incorporated with the private wing services to generate more revenue.
“We have the most qualified practitioners and all other private hospitals rely on us, we just want to improve our services and make the most out of this equipped facility that we have,” said Dr. Rae.
Currently, JOOTRH’s main revenue source is the hospital bills paid in cash by patients or collected through National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) reimbursements.
The hospital targets to collect Sh.623 million for the entire facility in the Financial Year 2022/23 following the inception of the new projects with Sh.18 million from the surgical unit alone.
In addition, Dr. Rae said they would upscale NHIF services by rallying their clients to enroll in the NHIF platform as an intervention to move the revenue upward.
In the previous financial year, the hospital received up to 70 per cent of the NHIF reimbursements, with the hospital management vowing to push for 100 per cent reimbursements.
Dr. Rae further disclosed that the management is committed to supervising trends in revenue collections within the hospital to narrow down the losses on waivers that runs to about Sh.600, 000 monthly.
By Robert Ojwang’
