The health sector requires more than Kshs. 120 billion annual investments to achieve the government’s ambitious Universal Health Coverage (UHC) programme for every Kenyan, the Kenya Health Forum (KHF) conference has declared.
Therefore the government should double its annual budgetary allocations that should go to the development of various critical areas of the sector right from the national to the county levels, especially in those counties previously classified as marginalised.
However, the National Treasury reports that in the current fiscal year, the government allocated Kshs. 61.9 billion for healthcare services, compared to Kshs. 60.3 billion in 2016/17. This is projected to increase in the medium term to Kshs. 61.9 billion and Kshs. 62.7 billion for 2018/19 and 2019/20, respectively.
The ministry of health professionals, stakeholders and international development partners made the resolutions during this year’s KHF conference in Nairobi which was officially opened by the new Cabinet Secretary for health Sicily Kariuki. Its theme was Accelerating Progress Towards Universal Health Coverage in Kenya.
National Treasury statistics show that allocations to the Ministry of Health and related Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) stood at Ksh. 41.70 billion in 2013/14, Ksh54.10 billion in 2014/15, KSh61.70 billion in 2015/16, and KSh73.60 billion in 2016/17. The allocation for the current financial year 2017/18 of Ksh61.64 billion is from the 2017/18 budget estimates.
The KHF forum is an annual event that brings together stakeholders from the health partner constituencies to take stock of progress made and discuss issues in addressing the health sector agenda and the way forward for the sector.
The Cabinet Secretary Sicily Kariuki said: “The Government has prioritized attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) to reduce the expenditure burden that a majority of Kenyans incur while seeking healthcare. The Universal Health Care Goal aims at cushioning citizens against out of pocket expenditure on health services.�
She revealed that almost one million Kenyans are pushed to poverty every year as a result of healthcare expenses thus Universal health coverage is a fundamental human rights issue. “Impoverishing health expenditures as a result of high rates of out-of-pocket expenses is a factor of inequality of access to healthcare,� she observed.
Ms. Kariuki said that four out of every five Kenyans have no access to medical insurance and that among the poorest quintile only 3% have health insurance with disparities between rural and urban populations, where rates of coverage are an average of 12% and 27% respectively.
“All this coupled with the fact that 33.6% of Kenyans survive on less than two US dollars per day means that there are still millions who cannot access quality healthcare,� she told the conference.
The CS said that the Government healthcare financing and social health protection approach such as the elimination of user fees, Linda Mama, subsidies for the poor and Health Insurance Subsidy Programmes have been successful.
She said: “These government initiatives combined with the efforts of development partners, the private sector and other key stakeholders have seen Kenya register significant progress in terms of health outcomes such as reduction of maternal and infant mortality and increase in the use of contraceptives.�
The CS called upon stakeholders to increase their investments in healthcare and also commended the county governments for progressively increasing their allocations to health services, from about 13 per cent of the total County Government budget in fiscal year 2013/14, to 25 per cent in the current year 2017/18. “This is laudable effort from the counties and we encourage more counties to continue to increase their allocations to health,� she added.
Ms. Kariuki said her ministry will work together with the County Governments to improve service delivery with a focus on increasing access to affordable and quality healthcare services and thanked the World Health Organization for continued support to the Ministry.
The New Constitution devolved health services to the 47 counties leaving the national government with the function of policy, research and regulation of the sector. Additionally, the national government is responsible for Level Six hospitals, which are mainly referral facilities.
The National Spinal Injury Hospital in Nairobi, Eldoret’s Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Kenyatta National Hospital. The counties are responsible for facilities classified between levels 1 to 5.
The Cabinet Secretary told the conference that the national government will continue to focus on improving the scope and quality of health services available to the population while reducing financial risk associated with use of essential services.
During the conference the CS launched key documents and tools that have been developed to aid the health sector in delivering its mandate. Among the documents launched was the Reproductive Maternal Newborn Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH) score card that will be instrumental in helping the sector to keep track progress on performance of health services provided for mothers and children.
Some of the key areas covered during the conference included Overview and Review of the Annual Health Sector Achievements and annual performance 2016/17. Achievements in health sector investments and key challenges concerning Human Resource Development. Investments in infrastructure development, health products and technologies, service delivery, financing, leadership and governance, research and development among others.
Other key speakers during the conference included the ministry’s chief administrative secretary, Dr. Rashid Aman, Peter Tum Kiplagat, the ministry’s principal secretary, the Director Medical Services, Dr. Jackson Kioko, a Lead Health Sector Specialist Prof Khama Rogo Odera, and Prof Miriam Were.
They told the conference that the government must also invest heavily in health human resource development to meet the ever increasing demand as part of its programme to achieve the UHC in the near future.
The emphasis was on the training of specialist doctors in various medical disciplines since at the moment they were very scarce in the country and the few that were available are already an endangered species since they are targets for poaching to practice in foreign countries.
The DMS said: “This is one of the major reasons why the government has been forced to import 100 specialist doctors from Cuba to fill the vacuum that is glaring in our public hospitals across the country.�
He said to catalyse faster achievement for UHC it was also important to increase and streamline vertical and horizontal partnerships across the board as well as heavy integration of all health and other related programmes.
Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich said of the more than Kshs. 61 billion health allocations this year, Kshs. 29.090 billion would go to recurrent expenditure and Kshs. 31.179 to development expenditure.
Rotich said: “Kshs. 4.298 billion will go to the free maternity programme while Kshs. 4.5 billion will cater for medical equipment for 98 hospitals. The specialised equipment includes ICU, radiology, theatre and renal equipment as well as surgical sets.�
He said Kshs 8.8 billion will go to Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), Kshs. 4.8 billion to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and Kshs. 1.7 billion to the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). A further Kshs. 2.747 billion will cater for the allowances of intern doctors, BSc nurses and BSc clinical officers.
Ends
