Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has revealed why he has never backed the newly rolled out Social Health Insurance Fund(SHIF).
Speaking to the media in an exclusive media interview from his Wamunyoro residence on Sunday, evening, the former DP registered his disapproval with the new healthcare fund.
Gachagua said he never supported the new healthcare scheme because it was allegedly not transparent
"I opposed SHIF because it was not transparent. Our people are today suffering because SHA is not working," Gachagua said.
The government transitioned from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to SHA on October 1, 2024.
In later January while on another interview on TikTok, the former DP also claimed the new Social Health Authority is a good universal health insurance scheme, but its implementation was rushed.
Gachagua said SHA has experienced teething problems because at some point it deviated from the initial plan regarding its implementation.
“This programme was rushed without taking sufficient time and consulting all the stakeholders on how to implement it to make health affordable to every Kenyan,” he said.
Gachagua said the idea of the new insurance scheme covering all manner of ailments, including chronic diseases, was commendable, but the pace at which it was rolled out was too fast.
However, recently the Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa assured Kenyans that technical issues bedeviling the Social Health Authority (SHA) will be resolved soon.
She maintained that Taifa Care will be implemented countrywide and assured that people will begin to enjoy its benefits sooner rather than later.
“So far, more than 500,000 Kenyans have benefited since we rolled out the new health scheme,” she said.
Barasa further noted that the government has been able to pay healthcare facilities that provided the health services.
“Yes, we have had a few challenges some of them being system interruptions. Even when you looks at other countries, system interruptions is common. But let us see where we are coming from as Kenya. Very few people had NHIF. We now we have more than 18 million Kenyans covered, almost three times the number who had NHIF,” she explained.
