Taita Taveta shelves hospital fees review after uproar about service quality

The county government has yielded to pressure to shelve its plans of reviewing user fees in public hospitals, and will instead embark on enrolling more people to the National Hospital Insurance Fund membership, Health executive Frank Mwangemi has said.

Dr Mwangemi last week announced the review plan during a ceremony to hand over a refurbished laboratory at Moi County Referral Hospital in Voi, triggering fears that medical charges at the county health facilities would go up.

The announcement sparked an uproar as residents questioned standards of services and quality of personnel in the health facilities. In a July 8 release, Dr Mwangemi denied plans of reviewing the charges, perhaps retreating due to possible backlash based on response from residents.

“We cannot afford to pay higher charges for poor services. The county government has an obligation of ensuring that the facilities are well equipped before they raise their charges,” said a Voi resident Kasim Mohammed.

Moi County Referral Hospital in Voi, Wesu and Mwatate sub county hospitals were targeted in the review plan. The plan was eventually set to see the rising costs of services, including consultation, laboratory, and wards.

Some of the residents have asked county to focus on improving the status of facilities instead of increasing rates.