Official: No relief food without SHA registration

Turkana Central deputy County Commissioner Thomas Siele now says no resident will receive relief food without registering for SHA.

In a video seen by the Star, Siele acknowledged that the area chief was in possession of 600 bags of relief food which would see the distribution exercise to the community begin on Wednesday under the condition they were enrolled to the health program.

“The other day, I received around 600 bags of relief food. Right before anyone receives the relief food from the chief from tomorrow when we begin (the distribution), the first, second and final condition is SHA, you must register, so that you receive the food,” he stated.

While acknowledging that SHA registration is voluntary, Siele underscored the importance of enrolling to SHA adding that the program would inclusively enable the residents to access healthcare services when needed.

“We don’t want to feed people who then moments later, we hear they fell ill but could not cater for their treatment and then they result to going to the Deputy Governor to seek funds to receive health care in the hospital,” he said.

Siele maintained that the registration remained free and voluntary but compelled the residents to register, emphasizing the health care benefits that they would receive.

He also underscored the importance of sensitising residents to boost the registration intake of the program.

As of the month of February, the Ministry of Health announced that a total of 19,340,978 people had been registered for the Social Health Authority.

Health CS Deborah Barasa said that 8,813 out of 17,755 health facilities, being 56 percent of all active facilities, had enrolled, with 89 per cent having successful logins.

The CS however lamented that the registration rates over the weekends remained low, with limited registration experienced in the counties of Turkana, West Pokot and Samburu.

Barasa said the ministry would intensify community outreach to encourage SHA registration beyond health service points.