President Ruto vows to continue health reforms despite SHIF challenges

President William Ruto says the ongoing projects by his administration to transform the health sector are unstoppable.

The president said the Universal Health Coverage programme, whose roll-out has faced hitches and claimed the lives of innocent patients, will ensure that every Kenyan has access to healthcare without discrimination.

This is despite the challenges Kenyans are facing following the introduction of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), which the President said has attracted 12.8 million Kenyans as registered users.

“We intend to make sure that no Kenyan is left behind on matters of health. For the first time, every Kenyan will have health insurance cover,” he said in Nairobi on Sunday.

Speaking during AIC Milimani Church’s 30th anniversary celebrations, Dr Ruto said that the Kenya Kwanza administration's plans, including the affordable housing programme, will bridge the gap between the haves and have-nots.

“That is my mission— to make sure that we create a nation of equals, a nation that makes us truly Kenyans together, making sure that we move together as a nation… we must not look back and I will not look back in making sure that I oversee the transformation of Kenya.”

Dr Ruto's remarks come as hundreds of Kenyans continue to suffer since the launch of the SHIF, with families in several parts of the country expressing dissatisfaction over delays in some hospitals giving them the attention they need as they demand money.

One family in Eldoret is one of many who experienced the pain of the transition from NHIF to SHIF when their loved one succumbed to kidney failure because they did not have the money.

The family of Elizabeth Cheboi, 66, said if NHIF was still operational, their mother would still be alive because she could have received her regular treatment as scheduled. 

Ms Cheboi passed on at her home in Chepsiria village in Kipchamo location within Kesses Sub County on Sunday after she was turned away from an Eldoret hospital for lack of cash to facilitate her dialysis despite having updated her NHIF card for the next two years.

The Health Ministry has said it is working to resolve the hitches that have rocked the SHIF system and urged patience.

During the church service, President Ruto asked the church to pray for his administration, amid the ongoing impeachment of his deputy Rigathi Gachagua, and to support the changes that the government is implementing.

“I want to promise you that this nation, the nation we love. This country, the country of Kenya, by God’s grace, we are going to change it. I’m very confident that we are going to change this nation.”

He asked the church not to relent in its mission, assuring it that the government will do it.

“Thank you for what you are doing, for supporting our schools, for supporting our hospitals, for supporting developments in our country.”

Speaking about the ongoing rehabilitation of the Nairobi River, the President said that it was embarrassing to have a stinking river in a city that hosts the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

He assured Kenyans that through the Nairobi River Commission and other stakeholders, the face of the Nairobi River will be transformed in the next two years.

“We cannot have the headquarters of UNEP in Nairobi and have the dirty river, it is an indictment on us.”

At the same time, the President expressed his displeasure with the increasing number of children in the city who are not attending schools, a matter that he promised to prioritise in his meeting with the Nairobi leadership under Governor Johnson Sakaja, who had accompanied him to church among other leaders.

“There are close to ten thousand children who are not going to school in Nairobi, and that is very serious. We want to build an extra 5,000 classrooms in Nairobi to make sure our children in slums can go to school.”

This was the President’s second appearance at AIC Milimani since the impeachment of Mr Gachagua began.

Initially, the President had been scheduled to attend the celebration of the 34th anniversary at ACK, Embu, but he snubbed it saying that he had a deeper connection with AIC, his youthful church.

“My diary was committed somewhere else. I had to negotiate with people in other places because I did not want to miss this celebration,” Ruto said.

The celebrations in Embu were graced by Mr Gachagua and his spouse Pastor Dorcas, raising many questions about the deteriorating relationship between the President and his deputy.

The embattled Deputy President called for respect for the rule of law, expressing his confidence that even if the Senate upholds his impeachment, the courts would rescue him.

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