Our handicap is that Kenyans who can pay for healthcare are the minority, a few others can pay with some support and finally those who cannot pay at all are in the bulk.
The last group renders any preposition to support them untenable in the long run.
More pragmatic critics want the government to seek good governance and economic growth.
President’s Uhuru Kenyatta’s declaration on Kenya’s quest towards attaining 100 per cent Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is a bold statement that if achieved will answer many of the shortcomings of our health system faces.
In the same breath it is unfortunately a hard statement to believe. Given the current administration’s track record in meeting projects of such a scale and the commitment needed to achieve and maintain the UHC target.
Unlike a project which comes to conclusion upon completion, needs to be kept in mind that whatever cost will be incurred in achieving UHC will continue to be incurred every year, and rising.
In analysing the problem of low access to sustainable UHC models in Kenya, the top three reasons emerging are lack of a secure healthcare financing model, inadequate healthcare infrastructure and equipment and ill-trained health personnel.
Other confounding factors outside these include a shifting global epidemiology burden that the government can do little about because it has not political solutions.
Looked at in isolation, solving any of these individually cannot yield the desired result. They all must be addressed as a package. This is why the task at hand is not easy.
To start with the financing issue, the fact that Kenya’s national government allocates less to healthcare than her regional peers despite our larger GDP is a sign of lack of prioritisation. It is unlikely that the administration will take an about-turn on this policy.
Most health system managers are in agreement that we need to address the issue from the top.
If we address the financing problem the rest will fall in place. The declaration of 100 per cent UHC begs the question where the money will come from.
More so as we also enter the era of free secondary and primary education among a host of subsidies the government has.
There are supporters of ‘free UHC’ and those who argue this is not possible.
Our handicap is that Kenyans who can pay for healthcare are the minority, a few others can pay with some support and finally those who cannot pay at all are in the bulk. The last group renders any preposition to support them untenable in the long run.
More pragmatic critics want the government to seek good governance and economic growth. Once this is done people will afford to pay for own health insurance.
So on this year’s universal health coverage, medics should strategise on solving the malignant corruption and bad governance that ultimately leads to poor health funding.
If we can manage to make corruption is a zero-sum game, we will have done our part.
