The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is operating without seven substantive directors of departments, a void that could delay key decision-making at the State-owned firm that is tasked with rolling out Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Michael Kamau, the newly appointed chair of the NHIF board, said filling up the positions is top on the list of priorities this year in a bid to ease the pressure on the CEO, Peter Kamunyo.
NHIF is set to roll out UHC this year and the voids at various directorates have left the agency limping, underscoring the urgency to get substantive holders of the positions.
Five of the departments lack heads while the ICT and Beneficiary Management have acting bosses.
“We have seven directors to fill substantively. The CEO is working with people who are acting, and these are huge voids,” Mr Kamau, the new chair of the NHIF board, said.
“You lack the substantive directors, so where are the people going to formulate the policies and help the CEO?”
The heads of the departments are critical to the day-to-day running of the State-owned health insurer and their absence is seen as a potential hitch ahead of the roll-out of universal health for all Kenyans aged above 18.
NHIF will, before the end of the year, roll out the UHC as part of the government’s plan to provide affordable and quality healthcare to all Kenyans.
The law was changed last year compelling all Kenyans aged above 18 to register and pay monthly premiums of Sh500 per month as part of the UHC.
The NHIF (Amendment) Act, 2022 made membership compulsory for all adults while the national and county governments will pay premiums for households that are classified as vulnerable.
There have also been claims that part of the staff in the scheme’s top management, including directors, are not qualified for the positions they hold.
NHIF had for years been grappling with losses but has since turned a corner under Mr Kamunyo seen in a significant jump in premiums collected.
Un-audited results for the 2021/22 financial year show that the State-insurer made Sh80.43 billion in premiums, a 29.4 per cent jump from the previous year but claims paid grew 31.9 per cent to Sh71.34 billion, wiping out the growth in revenues.
Revelations of the vacant positions and acting heads of the NHIF’s departments come amid plans for the restructuring of the agency.
The board, then headed by Lewis Nguyai, in September told Parliament it has received approval from the State Corporations Advisory Committee (SCAC) to initiate a restructuring.
Restructuring of the top management will see some offices scrapped and employees redeployed or declared redundant.
But Mr Kamau has played down talk of the restructuring, instead saying the focus is to promptly get seven substantive heads.
