CSOs in the health sector have called on the BBI Taskforce to ensure that the health sector is allocated adequate funding.
In the last two financial years, the health ministry’s budget rose from KSh60.3 billion in 2016/17 to KSh90.01 billion in 2018/19, an increase of 49%. The current financial year the docket was allocated 92.3b.
And with the affordable healthcare national rollout getting ready it was expected that the funding were to be increased further
The CSOs are saying that the current budget needs to be further enhanced to prevent Kenyans from dipping into their budgets to access healthcare.
“We need a functional referral healthcare system in the country that will not push Kenyans to pay for healthcare services if they have NHIF. Further we are calling for the strengthening of the public health insurance scheme to support public hospital more, NHIF must focus on remitting and reimbursing public health facilities to improve public health system” said Dr. Mercy Onsando from NGOs Health Network.
Each year, approximately one million Kenyans fall below the poverty line due to health-care related expenditure.
Current trends across the world show that spending on health is growing faster than the rest of the global economy. In fact, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019 pointed out that the spending accounts for 10 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).
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