The National Council of Churches (NCCK) in Machakos wants the government to make sure the new medical scheme Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) serves all the citizens impartially.
NCCK chair Machakos branch Dr. Edward Nzinga, addressing the Press at Pope Paul V1Seminary in Katoloni of Machakos, said that the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), was discriminative and mostly catered to civil servants.
Nzinga said that the Ministry of Health should look into the issues that were affecting the NHIF and ensure the same is not repeated in the new scheme.
“With the NHIF they were offering better services to civil servants yet the civilians who were paying for the same scheme were denied medical services,” decried the NCCK chair.
This comes a week after the Court of Appeal lifted High Court orders that barred the implementation of the Social Health Insurance Act; and with the Ministry of Health being given the go-ahead, SHIF will soon replace NHIF.
Regulations for SHIF make it mandatory for every Kenyan to be registered to ensure equity and access to health services by the vulnerable and those in the informal sector who were left out when in the NHIF.
Health CS Susan Nakhumicha said in a statement last week that the fund will pave the way for implementation of the Universal Health Coverage which will make health services available to all Kenyans.
By Anne Kangero
