KENYA – The county government of Murang’a in partnership with NHIF has commenced registration of dependents who will be included in the enhanced health cover.

The KSh170 million (US$1.35m) enhanced medical cover, dubbed Kang’ata care, targets to register more than 100,000 dependents including children, orphans and parents of the principal members.

The programme started operations in January this year and it covers 20,000 vulnerable households from the county. The registered members are already receiving free medical care from local public and private hospitals.

The Kang’ata care medical scheme also includes optical and dental services and also last expense compensation.

NHIF officials assisted by county workers have been deployed in all local public health facilities within the county to conduct biometric registration of the eligible dependents.

Governor Irungu Kang’ata speaking at Iruri dispensary in Mathioya when he launched the registration exercise said capturing details of the dependents will streamline operations of the programme by ensuring only rightful dependents benefit from the medical cover.

He said the enhanced medical cover was out of an agreement with the NHIF where already members of the scheme who have lost their loved ones have been paid last expense.

Since January this year, six families enrolled in the Kang’ata care have been compensated following the demise of their relatives.

In last expense cover, in case of death of a principal member the family is compensated with KSh.100,000 and KSh.50,000 for dependents so as to facilitate burial among other expenses.

Among the needed requirements during the registration process, the dependents must appear physically at centres where the registration is being done.

Nairobi County to introduce health insurance cover

The Nairobi County Government is set to introduce health insurance cover for poor households in the city, with the first phase targeting 232,000 households.

According to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, the County will partner with the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to roll out the medical cover and will be paying KSh8,600 monthly, which will enable poor city residents to access treatment free of charge.

“I have been keenly observing what has been happening in other counties and especially in Murang’a and as Nairobi County we will soon start registering the 232,000 poor families which will benefit from this cover,” Governor Sakaja stated.

Sakaja said the cover will cater for both inpatient, outpatient, dental, optical and last expense.

Access to health care for all is an integral part in President William Ruto’s manifesto, who has vowed to speed up the much needed National Health Insurance Fund reforms, so that Kenyans from all cadres can benefit from the fund.

Just recently Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha announced that the government will be phasing out the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and replacing it with the National Social Health Insurance Fund from July this year, so as to ensure health care access for all.

The CS noted that only a small percentage of Kenyans are enrolled in NHIF, hence denying many access to the crucial health care.

For all the latest healthcare industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, and YouTube Channel, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook.