The 20th of July 2019 was a critical milestone for Team Lesuuda as they launched the Samburu West Health Insurance Baseline Survey Report and enrolled 600 most vulnerable households to NHIF under the Universal Health Care (UHC) program. It took so many months planning and to see it coming to fruition filled hearts with joy and pride.
Speaking at the event, Hon Lesuuda who had pioneered the project from the start said it is a great initiative for Samburu County but a number of things must be done for it to achieve full potential. First, the county must scale to the 5000 vulnerable households identified during the survey. Secondly, all health facilities must be NHIF accredited so that the cards can help the beneficiaries. Finally, the county must improve services in the health centres so that the remittances from NHIF doesn’t go to other counties because of too many referrals.
Equipping the Samburu County health department to improve the quality and access of health services delivered is key to achieving UHC. She also noted that it was crucial that the funds from NHIF remain in the health centres and not treasury so that we improve our health centres.
Health care burden is one of the things putting many families at the risk of poverty. This initiative offers financial protection for vulnerable households and empowers them to receive basic health services with dignity. I urged all my constituents to enrol in the program to reduce the rising cases of Harambees towards payment of hospital bills. For those who cannot be able to raise money to enrol, the MP’s office will assess and if justified, get them covered.
The MP thanked all the partners who worked to make the dream come true; AMREF – Afya Timiza, NHIF Kenya, World Vision, Child Fund and the Samburu County Health Department. She specially thanked AMREF through Afya Timiza who had committed to employ 36 nurses noting that such is the spirit needed to make UHC a success in Samburu County.
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