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"id": 1092151,
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"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Emuhaya, ANC",
"speaker_title": "Hon. Omboko Milemba",
"speaker": {
"id": 13328,
"legal_name": "Jeremiah Omboko Milemba",
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"content": "is important. Therefore, the public facilities within the Ministry of Health or health care are very vital. This is generally a holistic and very good Bill because it tries to expand the healthcare coverage system to reach out to every Kenyan so that everybody will benefit. However, I would wish to raise a few issues which could help to make the Bill even stronger. The NHIF was established way back by workers. It is just the workers who established the NHIF. It was formalised in 1966 by an Act of Parliament, which was Cap 255 of the Laws of Kenya. We have moved with it such that, with the formalisation, it was able to provide healthcare insurance, including to those in the informal sector. Originally, the workers who founded NHIF were those that were salaried. The core mandate was basically to provide insurance cover to members. Later on, the Fund was also changed using a law which allowed all the other people to participate at a minimum monthly fee of Kshs500, which we were told very clearly by the Chair of the Departmental Committee on Health that this is on-going. Later on, the Government included other players in this Fund, like students, who are now enjoying the cover from the NHIF together with the Linda Mama Programme, which is also within the scheme. So, those were the earlier attempts to expand this scheme. As a matter of fact, the NHIF has about 10 million members countrywide or about 10.4 million members. Of those members, because we have been close to this Fund, coming from the background of teachers, only five million are active. The other five million are not very active for reasons not known to me. I am sure that the Committee will be looking at this so that we also ensure that we make it stronger as we expand it. It should not be left bare to everybody, finally leading to vulgarisation of the Fund. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, the NHIF as it is today, has so many assets, some of which were founded by the workers. I hope during the Third Reading, we will be able to address the issue of its assets and where the place of the workers will be. They are the main contributors to this Fund. By opening it completely, if the Government does not send its part of what is required, especially the funds that are meant for the indigents, the contributions of the workers will be used to foot all the bills. This Bill talks about the indigents, who will benefit from this Fund. The Government will be liable to pay for them. The Bill does not define how we shall identify the indigents country- wide. Above all, should the Government not send funds, like the earlier speaker said, given the history we have of how funding has been done not only in a situation like this, but the National Government Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF), which we are managing, there is a risk that there will be too much pressure on the core contributors of this Fund, who are the workers of Kenya. If we do not take good care, the Fund could actually collapse. Indeed, as Hon. Sossion has mentioned, we have had many institutions in this country which have failed because of a system that almost borders on nationalisation. When you look at this Bill, it opens it up completely and nationalises the NHIF. Unless this Fund is managed well, unless the Government sends funds for the indigents and for the vulnerable, because they are also mentioned here, then in as much as it is a very good law, finally, the core contributors who are just about five million, may realise that the services of this Fund are not good for them. We may also end up just collapsing the entire Fund. There are also good examples which I would like the Committee to look into. They could especially look at the good example of Britain with its national healthcare system, which is working with a membership of more than 1.3 million and a budget of over 90 billion pounds. It 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."
}