Partners Launch Busia County UHC Pilot
Dr. Peter Kamunyo, NHIF CEO; Dr. Wilson Aruasa, MTRH CEO; and Hon. Moses Mulomi, CEC, Health Busia signed a UHC memorandum of understanding between the County Government of Busia, NHIF and MTRH/AMPATH at Port Victoria Sub-County Hospital, Budalangi, Busia County.
This month, AMPATH helped launch a Busia County Universal Health Coverage (UHC) pilot, a partnership between Busia County Government, National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH)/AMPATH. The goal of the partnership is to demonstrate how the innovative approach will help achieve UHC as part of the overall population health efforts focused on:
· Health systems strengthening
· Economic empowerment
· Expansion of health insurance enrollment
This pilot launch at the Port Victoria Sub-County Hospital in Bunyala is a culmination of years of effort and partnership between the Busia County Government, NHIF and AMPATH.
Introducing a new partnership model
Registration of 1000 households occurred at the event.
In the partnership, AMPATH commits to supporting the county government to pay NHIF premiums for 1000 households in Bunyala Central and West in the first phase of the pilot with plans to scale to 6000 households in the entire sub-county. Enrolment of households will be accompanied by efforts to strengthen the health system by addressing availability of drugs and quality health services in Port Victoria and Mukhobola Sub-County Hospitals. AMPATH is also supporting ongoing health financing law amendments to ensure the sequestering of healthcare funds and revenue and ensuring the reinvestment of these monies to improve primary health care service delivery.
The launch comes at a time when counties nationwide are rolling out UHC programs in line with the government’s “BIG FOUR” agenda and the global Universal Health Coverage goal of providing access to affordable and quality health services for all. This pilot leverages a longstanding relationship between the County Government of Busia and the MTRH/AMPATH partnership dating back many years with support ranging from the USAID-funded HIV program to PIC4C, the World Bank-supported non-communicable disease integrated care program, and corporate foundation and individual philanthropy.
On March 22nd, the three partners entered into an MOU to increase health insurance coverage and improve health systems with clearly defined roles towards infrastructure improvement, payment of NHIF premiums and availability of funds to health facilities by NHIF to facilitate healthcare provision. The event was preceded by biometric registration of the 1000 households.
“The launch today is a milestone not only to this county, but to the whole of Kenya and the AMPATH program, as we work towards achieving affordable access to quality healthcare as enshrined in the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goal. AMPATH’s goal has always been to increase access to healthcare and this pilot marks a step towards ensuring accessible quality care through NHIF health insurance enrolment for the people of Busia,” said Professor Sylvester Kimaiyo, AMPATH’s Executive Director of Care.
In his speech, the NHIF CEO, Dr. Peter Kamunyo, emphasized the need to reach the informal sector in health insurance enrolment efforts. He lauded MTRH/AMPATH’s efforts to support the enrolment of the informal sector in Bunyala and invited other partners to support other households who lack the ability to pay. The MTRH CEO, Dr. Wilson Aruasa, added that healthcare cost is the biggest barrier to access. He pointed out that since the hospital began, over Ksh. 3 billion worth of hospital bills had been waived for patients who were not able to pay and that this pilot would be a game changer as far as making healthcare affordable and accessible.