While access to quality healthcare is a constitutional right to every Kenyan, many are not able to pay for basic medical services in private hospitals or even in public hospitals. This comes in even after the government enabled healthcare access through the National Health Insurance Fund, which requires every beneficiary to pay a certain amount to access the medical services. Only 20% of Kenyans have some access to the NHIF medical coverage. This statistics is mainly because a large number of Kenyans are way low in the wealth curve. This situation makes it difficult for most parents to provide basic needs for the families and have some money set aside as savings to cater for medical expenses.
Regardless of every Kenyan financial status, we should all know that illnesses are unforeseen and unpredictable. Therefore, we should have a plan on how to manage them when they arise. This will help curb, untimely deaths, increase production in the country, and reduce the burden of illness management.
Individuals should therefore purpose to:
- Enroll for the National Health Insurance Fund and keep up with the payments.
- Partner with a Health Insurance provider to enroll for medical cover.
- Enroll in mobile clinics. These provide door-to-door medical services and they can come to where the patient is.
- Team up individual drivers who can come to their aid in case of emergencies and help them to get to medical facilities in time.
- If the above does not seem to work then individuals should have some personal savings for Medical expenses.
The government can also help improve access to healthcare services by helping in paying the NHIF for needy families who cannot afford it. This can be done through the identification of these families and enrolling them into a system where the government can be paying for their covers. With this, every Kenyan can comfortably access healthcare services and thereafter have healthy people, further improving the country’s production.
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