Murang’a County has resolved to make some drastic changes aimed at streamlining the maternal health support programme that was initiated last year.
The programme that is supposed to encourage expectant mothers to attend antenatal clinics and deliver in hospitals was paused early this year to enable the devolved administration to carry out a physical audit of the beneficiaries.
In a public notice released on Wednesday, the Governor Irungu Kang’ata-led administration said from next financial year, the expecting mothers will be getting stipulated financial support to cater for their travel costs, once annually.
The payment of the accumulated stipend for clinic visits will be done between May and June of every year.
“Mothers will receive payments only once annually in May/June. To qualify for the support, mothers must attend at least six antenatal clinic visits scheduled as one visit in the first trimester, two visits in the second trimester, and three visits in the third trimester,” read part of the notice.
Following the physical audit that was conducted early in July this year, it was revealed that 4,104 expecting mothers have been unpaid since the inception of the program.
Among the mothers, only 482, which translates to 11 per cent, have medical insurance cover.
The devolved administration also resolved to pay the verified but unpaid mothers between the 5th and 10th of this month. The payment will be done at the sub-county level.
“The county has resolved to provide 482 mothers with NHIF coverage with a payment of Sh1,500; 3,622 mothers without medical insurance will receive Sh1, 000 and three months of medical cover under SHIF starting October 1, this year,” the administration indicated in the notice.
The medics in the local public health facilities were directed to start using the Afya.ke portal to register antenatal visits, replacing the original county-developed application to avoid duplication.
The devolved unit launched a maternal support programme to incentivise expecting mothers to attend antenatal clinics, aiming to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates.
As part of the initiative, the county government reimbursed travel expenses of Sh1000 per visit and Sh2,000 during delivery for the mothers.
While launching the programme back in March 2023, Governor Kang’ata revealed that according to medical surveys, 30 per cent of expectant mothers have been delivering at home, endangering their lives and those of their newborns.
The high number of home deliveries, which is facilitated by untrained midwives, informed the establishment of the maternal programme as some women claimed to be unable to raise travel costs to hospitals.
The county government further said the mothers would be trained on nutrition during the antenatal clinics.
By Bernard Munyao
