The Kenyan government, in a move aimed at addressing healthcare delivery concerns, has announced plans to introduce hotlines where citizens can lodge complaints regarding healthcare service delivery under the new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).
Moses Kuria, Senior Advisor in President William Ruto’s Council of Economic Advisors, revealed this on Thursday, October 2, during an interview on Spice FM.
He indicated that the establishment of these hotlines is part of the government’s broader strategy to resolve the issues arising from the SHIF rollout, particularly as many Kenyans are being turned away from healthcare facilities.
Kuria emphasized that the government will create a call center with dedicated hotlines to receive and address complaints from the public.
“We have a hotline, we have a call center, and we are going to ensure that we publish the call center numbers for anybody who is being turned away for any reason,” he said.
He further stated that the government will use the feedback from these complaints to improve the SHIF system and ensure that it works as intended.
Kuria acknowledged that the transition has been challenging for many Kenyans but expressed confidence that the reported issues will help the government identify areas of non-compliance and rectify them quickly.
“We will be using the reported cases to iterate, and we use it to make the system work better. You will be helping us to identify the non-compliance point.”
Kuria also mentioned that all healthcare providers contracted under SHIF have been directed not to turn away any patient.
Instead, they must provide medical attention to all Kenyans regardless of the payment status.
This government directive is essential in guaranteeing that no Kenyan is denied healthcare during the transition period, despite the challenges faced by both healthcare facilities and patients.
This decision comes amid rising anxiety about the ongoing transition from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to SHIF, which has led to several Kenyans being denied critical medical services.
