Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) Secretary General Davji Atellah has told off Public Health and Professional Standards PS Mary Muthoni over a post she shared on X on the Social Health Authority (SHA).
According to Atellah, the effectiveness of the country’s new national health cover should be told by patients.
He insisted that if the scheme works as the Principal Secretary claims, then it does not need a hashtag on social media.
The KMPDU boss further noted that the complaints over the health insurance scheme are not just a creation of people.
“The testament of how effective SHA is should be in patients’ experience not social media posts. If it works, then it does not need hashtags. The complaints from the service providers, doctors and patients is not a whimsical cry,” Atellah said.
He was responding to a post on X, where Muthoni had made a comparison between what the now defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Social Health Authority (SHA) had to offer to Kenyans.
In the comparison, the Public Health PS said SHA provides more offerings to Kenyans including a Primary Healthcare Fund, Social Health Insurance Fund and Emergency Chronic Critical Illness Fund.
NHIF on the other hand only covered 20 per cent of Kenyans, Muthoni said.
This comes even as the new health scheme continues to attract mixed reactions from stakeholders.
While other hospitals say the SHA works perfectly well, some, mostly private hospitals have denied the same.
There have been calls to relevant authorities to ensure the issues being raised by stakeholders in the switch to SHA are addressed quickly.
The government insists that SHA will transform the country's healthcare system.
On October 6, the Ministry of Health announced that at least 12,704,548 Kenyans have so far registered for the Social Health Authority.
The number includes verified members who were under the
defunct National Health Insurance Fund and have been transitioned to SHA.
