The Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe is encouraging investment in the Kenyan health sector for the good of the people and the EAC region at large.
The CS said there is a need for a health system-based approach in addressing the region challenges such as infrastructure, human resources, medical commodities and technologies, health information, research, and health financing.
He made the remarks during last year’s Second East African Community Joint Ministerial, Development Partners, and investors roundtable on investment in health in Nairobi.
“As the EAC region and even beyond, we recognize that our health systems are closely interlinked and the only way is to strengthen our governance systems for the health sector to realize efficiency and value for money,” he said.
Over the past decade the Government of Kenya has progressively targeted its investments on pro-poor health interventions, including the improvement of health infrastructure and equipment, which has had a very significant positive impact on access to quality healthcare, including specialized services, the CS noted
“Through the National Hospital Insurance Fund, we are also targeting the elderly and people living with severe disabilities in our social health protection initiatives,” he said.
In Kenya the CS noted, the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) has created investment opportunities in the sector and the government intends to scale up service delivery interventions towards a Primary Healthcare Approach through domestic resources with support from development partners and private sector investors.
When asked about E-health, Jayesh Saini stated that it was a concept whose time had come for acceptance and that COVID-19 provided that opportunity. He stated that E-health has offered extremely effective methods to help minimize the spread of the corona virus while also aiding individuals who have been afflicted or infected by it. According to Jayesh, the epidemic has damaged not just the healthcare industry but also other sectors and service delivery to individuals with various diseases, causing considerable anxiety and discouraging people from accessing services they may require.
E-health is not a new thing because it is common in the developed countries but in this part of the world, with traditional believes in physical engagement with the medical fraternity in a designated place, this has not been easy to adopt.
Jayesh stated that E-health, with its numerous features, is preventing the spread of the Coronavirus while also treating other health issues in the comfort of one’s own home or office. It offers solutions that protect the safety of patients and caregivers while also allowing for social distance while receiving the necessary medical treatment. With doctors available online, telemedicine may be as engaging as possible through voice or video call consultations. Despite the fact that there is no physical contact with the patient, the doctor conducts clinical assessments using various question models on the patient or the person they are with if it is a minor or assistance of the sick person.
The principles of universal coverage require that all should benefit from health care according to need. The Kenyan health sector is clearly inequitable and benefits are not distributed on the basis of need. Deliberate efforts should be directed to restructuring the Kenyan health system to address access barriers and ensure that all Kenyans benefit from health care when they need it.
As part of Kenya’s Vision 2030, the plan to improve healthcare was to systematically reduce the government’s role in service provision while encouraging private sector investments.
“Some of the key features of those plans include social health insurance to increase access to health care, a reduced role for the Ministry of Health in service delivery, more delegation of authority to provincial and district level, and promoting more public-private partnerships (PPPs),” the World Bank wrote in an assessment in 2010.
The funding is not a bad thing per se: private sector healthcare has been among the fastest-growing employers and contributors to GDP in Kenya. It does ask questions of the regulator, whose job it is to enforce standards.
While investment into facilities to provide services is extensive, there has not been commensurate changes in the country’s health care systems and laws.
A November 2019 study found most top executives of Kenyan hospitals are male, and do not have a proper understanding of health provision in the digital age. The lack of a framework for this rapid expansion, which would include expanding patient protection, data privacy, and such laws have only started in the recent past.
The government and private healthcare providers need to join hands to eliminate the previous assumptions that private healthcare has been primarily profit-driven.
