Kimilili MP Didmus Barasa has poked holes in the Social Health Authority (SHA) which he observes is not serving the country despite being widely vouched for by the state. Barasa, elected on a UDA party ticket, said the new health scheme has yet to settle the gaps experienced in the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). The lawmaker, while appreciating President William Ruto’s good intents with SHA, noted that the over 15 million Kenyans registered under the scheme were struggling to access medical services due to funding problems. He claimed that facilitates are turning patients away due to the debts owed to them by the state-run health scheme. “The president asked us to moblise Kenyans to register to SHA, but the challenge is our people are denied services because SHA owes the hospitals millions, and therefore cannot discharge services,” the lawmaker said. He suggested that the president sanctions heavy funding of the programme given that the few salaried Kenyans taxed to run it cannot sustain 15 million Kenyans.
Barasa asked the president to direct the Exchequer to, through the approval of parliament, dispense money to SHA for the scheme to serve its purpose properly. He seemed to warn the president that the inefficiencies in SHA are denting his efforts in delivering to Kenyans and could negatively have a bearing on his reelection bid in 2027. “Kenyans who are taxed to fund SHA are not many and therefore their money cannot sustain the medical needs of the millions of Kenyans. I want to ask the president, Kenyans are crying, that this SHA is not working. The system cannot accommodate millions of Kenyans who have registered. I plead with you, that you have the power to appropriate money before bringing it to parliament to be regularised. Get enough funds from other sectors and put on SHA so that these Kenyans don’t continue to suffer. Those who will vote for you are the poor who will go to hospital and rely on SHA for payments of their medical needs, Mr president, bring more money to SHA,” he said. Barasa added that Kenyans were being aggrieved by the failures of such establishments as SHA in solving the systemic problems suffered over the years. He said it is the responsibility of the government to chip in and streamline policies that fail to serve the interests of the public. According to him, it would be pointless to have a new health scheme that continues the challenges suffered under the previous one, in this case, the NHIF. “Public policies come to solve public problems. Kenyans were optimistic that SHA would solve the problems under NHIF. If SHA and Taifa Care are unable to solve the public problem that existed when we had NHIF, then Kenyans have given the government the responsibility of reviewing that policy, identifying where the gaps, strengthening it and make the policy a progressive one,” Barasa said.
by Kai Eli
