The Ministry of Health and National Treasury have embarked on fresh deliberations aimed at fast-tracking the roll-out of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) across the country.
The meeting in the Treasury Building in Nairobi on Wednesday had Principal Secretary for Medical Services Dr. Ouma Oluga and his counterpart at the National Treasury Dr. Chris Kiptoo. The discussions were on how to ensure funding towards health programmes becomes consistent and the services reach the Kenyans in an efficient manner.
Dr. Oluga said the talks represented a major step towards aligning the priorities of the health sector with national fiscal planning an alignment he noted was overdue.
“For the first time, we are working closely with the Treasury to make sure funds available are directed towards the real health priorities of Kenyans,” said Dr. Oluga.
He set out that the ministry is emphasizing priority areas such as consolidating referral hospitals, providing a stable supply of medicines, enabling blood transfusion services, expanding medical research, and encouraging local production of vaccines.
The PS added that the majority of health facilities continue to experience squeezed budgets and reduced donor support, which has slowed down achievement in priority programmes.
Dr. Kiptoo, on his side, pledged the Treasury to backing the health sector with stable and predictable funding to complete pending projects and expand service delivery.
The two ministries agreed that better health financing, digitalization, and health workforce investment are key to promoting transparency besides making healthcare more accessible.
In a press statement, the Ministry of Health stated that the joint venture will see to it that the national health system is revitalized and Kenyans protected from hefty out-of-pocket medical costs.
The move is in accordance with the government’s plan to achieve President William Ruto’s commitment to making quality healthcare accessible to all under the Universal Health Coverage program.
