Economy

Ministry seeks Sh208bn budget for health plan

mochahe

Heath Principal Secretary Susan Mochache. FILE PHOTO | NMG

The Ministry of Health wants its budget more than doubled to Sh208 billion in the new fiscal year starting July 1, in anticipation of reduced donor funding and roll-out of universal health coverage (UHC).

The Treasury has, however, increased allocation to the ministry by Sh20.1 billion to Sh112.8 billion from the Sh92.7 billion allocated in the current year.

Health PS Susan Mochache said the sector’s priorities for the medium-term period include implementing UHC, improving medical infrastructure and hiring more staff.

“The withdrawal of donor funding is what is causing us to really look at doubling our requirement for the coming financial year,” she told a meeting on preparation of the 2020/21 Budget.

In September 2014, Kenya joined the league of the world’s lower-middle-income nations, having crossed the United Nations’ $1,045 gross domestic product per capita threshold.

Following the upgrade, the country’s access to cheaper international loans from multilateral lenders such as the World Bank Group reduced.

This has seen the country resort to expensive short-term loans from international lenders

“As you know in the next three years most of the donors will already have pulled out because of the rebasing of our economy that we are now a middle-income country and do not qualify for some of the support that they have been giving us,” said Ms Mochache.

The Health ministry has projected to increase its budget to Sh331 billion in the 2022/23 financial year.

In December 2018, Kenya rolled out a pilot for the UHC targeting to provide quality and affordable healthcare to at least 90 percent of its population by 2022.

Kisumu, Nyeri, Machakos and Isiolo were the pilot regions where an estimated 3.2 million were targeted for coverage before it is rolled out to the other 43 counties.

The government said it plans to fully roll out the UHC in the remaining 43 counties by June 2020.