Anguish for NHIF beneficiaries as Treasury delays disbursement of outstanding bills to health facilities » Capital News
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 14 – The agony facing patients under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) will continue to persist following the delays by the National Treasury to release the funds owed to health facilities.
It has emerged that the financial woes bedeviling Public and Private hospitals in the country following the delayed remittance of claims will bite longer than expected.
Appearing before Members of Parliament, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha revealed that Treasury has remained non-committal in disbursing an outstanding Sh29 billion.
The CS told MPs that efforts to convince the National Treasury to disburse the much-awaited funds hit a snag with the exchequer promising to disburse Sh2 billion by the end of next week.
“I can’t give timelines on when the funds will be released unless the Treasury has given commitment. We are tied on the areas identified but they have assured to release Sh 2M by the end of next week,” Nakhumicha stated.
Nakhumicha averred that the current financial crisis facing the National Government has dealt a blow to health operations in the country.
According to the Health Cabinet Secretary financial crisis which has been occasioned by poor contributions to NHIF and the National Treasury’s delay to the insurer, has led to the current crisis.
Several public, private, and mission hospitals and other health facilities have either closed or scaled down operations due to NHIF’s failure to reimburse them the capitation.
The government owes NHIF Sh32 billion as cover for civil servants whilst the money the fund collects in member contributions and from private entities is insufficient to offset what the health facilities are owed.
In the breakdown of the funds owed to the National Insurer, Sh2.1 billion was allocated for Edu Afya which has not been paid since November last year.
For Linda Mama the monies owed are Sh4 billion, Sh10 billion for general medical and surgical claims, and about Sh6 billion for the civil servants’ comprehensive medical scheme.
NHIF owes all public hospitals in Nairobi a cumulative figure of Sh2.1 billion with KNH alone owed Sh1.6 billion. The other public hospitals in the county combined are owed Sh480 million.
Both private and mission hospitals are owed a combined Sh15 billion.
Yesterday, hospitals under the Kenya Association of Private Hospitals (KAPH) stopped offering services to National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) beneficiaries over unpaid debt.
In a statement, the organization issued a 7-day demand notice for NHIF/SHA to release all funds owed as per the contractual agreements.
The association’s chairperson Eric Musau stated that KAPH had engaged NHIF on several occasions to discuss the delayed payments of our member hospitals.
This comes in the wake of a nationwide doctors’ strike that commenced at midnight after talks between the Ministry of Health and the Kenya Medical Pharmacists Practitioners and Dentist Union (KMPDU).
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