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{
    "id": 1092144,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1092144/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 189,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Wajir South, JP",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Mohamed Mohamud",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 13506,
        "legal_name": "Mohamud Sheikh Mohammed",
        "slug": "mohamud-sheikh-mohammed"
    },
    "content": "who work in the private industries such as the hotel industry and others. Those are the two types of workers. If the county governments or the national Government are giving a particular amount of money, why should private workers also not be given a substantial amount? We have pegged that to about a minimum of Kshs500, which every worker must get. I want to use a simple example. It would be unfair for a teacher to get the best services while an industry or a hotel worker gets lesser service. If someone is given a service equivalent to Kshs150,000 - and that is a public worker or someone working for the Government – a worker in the private sector should not get any less than that. That is where that universal human right comes in. It must be within that range. We are also trying to ensure that this Bill repositions the NHIF as the driver of UHC. The UHC is one of the cornerstones of this Government’s decision to make sure that healthcare is an important element that the Uhuru Government wants to leave as a legacy. If we strengthen and support the process that the NHIF takes to contribute to the healthcare of our society, we must do so through UHC. That is why it is important. The UHC is universal health coverage. I prefer to call it universal healthcare. I debated about this so much. The word “coverage” is not very important to me. I have to live with it simply because it has been used, but I would rather say universal healthcare. I include the bedside nurse, the public health technician and the doctors. Those are the people to be applauded rather than a plastic card that denotes coverage. That will be a debate for another day, but I really wanted to mention that point. The unemployed and the vulnerable have been taken care of in this Bill. Individuals have been given an independent prerogative to contribute to this scheme. Reduction of penalties was another thing that was quite advantageous in this Bill to assist communities and societies that are at the peril of poverty. When I say peril of poverty, I am indicating that there are people who have been challenged by life through unemployment for a very long time, have never been employed in their lifetime or may never get employed because of their age and where they are in this country; especially in the far-flung rural areas. There should be no penalties. That will be too much for everybody. We have reduced the penalty to about 5 per cent. Those are some of the things that we looked into. The amendment Bill sets a cut-off for the contribution, namely, the Kshs500 that I mentioned and so, I do not need to repeat it. The growth of our public and private healthcare sectors will be enhanced when we have a bigger pool of resources that can be accessed by every Kenyan. Public and private institutions will be working hand-in-hand. They will also be able to provide similar services, so that they can compete for that pool and create a competitive health sector, both for the private and public sectors. That is very important. It actually affirms better performance of the health sector industry, be it public or private. Therefore, the NHIF will be required to look at the best service that is provided to the patients and the clientele. That is what we are looking at. Another thing is means-testing. Means-testing is a very important thing. I would have suggested that it be included into this. The reason I am talking about means-testing is because there are people who are quite poor and earn small amounts of salaries and, therefore, those salaries may not be sufficient enough for their other livelihoods. Therefore, healthcare becomes a third option for them. We want to discourage that. We want healthcare to become the first option for everybody. Through that, we look at the means-testing and say that individuals can only pay this amount where they are required to be able to sustain themselves in accessing the healthcare. That is where we are now going to the aspect of the Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}