NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 8 — Deputy President Kithure Kindiki has acknowledged that the government is facing a financial crunch in funding the healthcare system as part of the rollout of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
Kindiki highlighted the challenges in remunerating community health promoters, who are expected to support primary healthcare under the new Social Health Authority (SHA) framework.
The Deputy President revealed that plans are underway to raise revenue to address the shortfall in Supplementary Budget II by making adjustments to the 2024/2025 financial budget.
“The revenue-raising instruments that were proposed did not materialize, including the Finance Bill 2024, and that affected funding across government sectors. Even with the shortfall, we will go out of our way to continually adjust our budget to ensure that primary healthcare is not left out,” Kindiki said.
The Deputy President was speaking at the Kenyatta National Hospital, where he noted that the funds allocated for community health promoters may be insufficient following the withdrawal of the Finance Bill 2024.
Kindiki stated that restructuring the budget in the supplementary budget would raise Sh340 billion in revenue.
“If you add the Sh2.5 billion budget for CHPs (Community Health Promoters) and the budget for other primary healthcare services, the total budget is Sh6.2 billion, according to the data I have been given. However, that amount of money may not be adequate,” Kindiki noted.
The government reported that 17 million Kenyans are now registered under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program, Taifa Care.
Kindiki was assessing the implementation of Taifa Care, where he pledged to address and streamline issues hindering the rollout of UHC.
“While most of the teething problems have been resolved, the government is working to streamline all outstanding issues to ensure that hospitals provide services in an efficient and timely manner,” he said.
Source: capitalfm
