Hospital churches calls for government to clear NHIF dues
Healthcare providers connected to Faith-based Organizations (FBOs) are requesting the government to pay off debts totaling at least Sh4 billion that were left by the now closed National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
The heads of the organizations raised doubts about the Health ministry’s promise made yesterday to settle all debts by March 2025, labeling it as disingenuous and impractical. They cautioned that if not resolved promptly, the services offered by the facilities may come to a standstill.
CHAK and SUPKEM, along with other stakeholders, expressed worries about the prolonged delays in payments leading to longer queues of patients with serious illnesses.
The teams gathered at the NSDCC and had discussions with Dr. Deborah Barasa, the Cabinet Secretary, along with other Ministry leaders, to discuss the outcomes of the meeting that took place on October 14, 2024.
Dr Samuel Mwenda, the secretary general of CHAK, mentioned that a major issue was the payments for services. This is because faith-based health providers rely on the fees they receive.
Mwenda mentioned that after discussing with specific mission hospitals and faith-based hospitals nationwide through a technical team, important priorities in several areas that still require attention were recognized.
Dr Mwenda raised worries about the increasing length of queues for chronic patients and the rising medical bills.
For instance, we are at the forefront of cardiothoracic surgery. And those treatments come with a very high cost. Other options include orthopaedic surgery and neurosurgery. He explained, “That’s how those expenses accumulate.”
Jacinta Mutegi, Head of Health at the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and Bishop Robert Lang’at, board chair at Tenwek Mission Hospital, stood beside the official.
Mwenda disclosed that faith-based hospitals only received Sh958 million out of the initial payments owed to health providers.
“We have been active because payments should occur regularly every month, either once or twice, as bills continue to accumulate daily,” he stated, recommending that payments should be made once or twice a month to lower the increasing bills. The official mentioned that due to receiving funding from contributors and the National Treasury, the social authority needs to increase payments, especially for historical claims. He observed that there is a slight decrease as the payments arrive.
Each day we see patients and submit claims. He stated that, based on the most recent confirmed data from the Social Health Authority system excluding any pending facility claims, the total amount sums up to Sh4 billion in Kenya shillings.
To illustrate the severity of the situation, patients at Kijabe Mission Hospital who were scheduled for surgeries yesterday were unable to be seen due to the malfunctioning claims system and delayed payment.
The CS previously stated that the government was implementing solutions to tackle the challenges as they arise. When she met with stakeholders in the private meeting, she stated that there was recognition of the issues with the deployment.
In a statement, she expressed that one goal of today’s meeting is to hear about your experiences, obstacles, and suggestions from this roll-out to collaboratively find effective solutions for moving forward.
