Health CS Deborah Barasa in a past event// Photo Courtesy
The government through the Ministry of Health has repudiated claims by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCC) on remittance of money through the disbanded National Health Insurance Fund to faith-based hospitals.
The bishops had earlier criticised the government for what it called a “culture of lies,” claiming that the failure to pay outstanding NHIF dues to faith-based health facilities has severely affected vulnerable communities.
In a statement on Thursday, Cabinet Secretary for health docket, Deborah Barasa christened the allegations as misleading, erroneous, and false.
The bishops while criticising the government, pointed out that several faith-based hospitals, especially those run by the Catholic Church, were owed substantial amounts in unpaid claims.
Making facts right, the CS said that the government has made a good progress in clearing debts owed to hospitals that had been accrued by the defunct NHIF over the past 10 years.
She revealed that in the last one month, the government has struggled to pay Kshs. 7.58 billion to various health provides out of the Ksh.19 billion owed.
“We are fully committed to clearing the historical debts, and in the past month alone, we mobilised Sh7.58 billion to settle these arrears.”
She added that Ksh. 5.05 billion had already been disbursed to various health providers, including Sh938 million to faith-based facilities by the new Social Health Insurance Fund, that replaced NHIF.
The government in committed to progressively clear all unpaid NHIF dues, has assured that by next week the remaining debts will be disbursed.
Currently, SHA is reconciling new claims made by health providers in October and November this year under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and once this is done, all the claims shall be paid on time.
“The remaining Sh2.5 billion will be disbursed by next week,” Barasa confirmed.
The CS in refuting the claims by the bishops, maintained that the government is committed to making timely payments for these claims, while commending Kenyans who have registered with SHA.
“The government commends all Kenyans who have registered with the Social Health Authority, and health care providers, including public, private and faith based organisations,” said Barasa while urging relevant stakeholders including the Catholic church to support SHA roll out.
In response to the KCCB’s concerns, Barasa reaffirmed the Ministry’s commitment to providing transparent, accessible and affordable healthcare to all Kenyans, underlining that efforts are ongoing to make sure that no provider lags behind in the new system.
