Reuters Published: August 30,2024 12:19 PM EAT Germany said it resumed flying convicted criminals of…
Interns posting to wait longer, Health CS says
By Moses Muli
Published: Friday, March 8,2024 11:19 A.M
The posting of medical interns may take longer, Ministry of Health has said.
Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha argued that other stakeholders need to be involved in the process.
She stated that the government cannot post interns to facilities with no adequate capacity to accommodate them.
While reacting to the ongoing go-slow by the medics incensed by last Thursday’s confrontation with the police in Nairobi, the CS said other elements should be looked into, like equipping Level 3, 4 and 5 facilities where they shall be posted.
“Internship is not just about payment to doctors; and posting of interns, but there are a number of ingredients into an internship program.
“One, we have to have facilities where these people will go for internship and currently, we have level 4, 5, 6 facilities that are internship centers, which must also have medical officers as well as specialists who will supervise them,” Nakhumicha said, revealing that the same facilities must have equipment that these interns will use.
Health commodities
The CS also admitted the facilities lack the required health commodities that the interns will use.
“So there are many things that need to be prepared and be available for us to have interns to be posted, and for them to acquire the knowledge they so require under that internship program,” she said, adding that the Ministry is in the process of putting all those aspects together.
She took responsibility that there is a delay, but in a quick reference to a situation that has assumed a status quo stretching years back.
Nakhumicha explained the reason the Ministry is taking longer to have a lasting solution.
Legal framework
To be able to pay doctors, the CS argued that there must be enough resources towards health, and the reason the Ministry focused on ensuring that there’s a sufficient legal framework to facilitate the building of a resource kitty, and any other items required for healthcare.
“Under UHC, we said commodities must be available; equipment, infrastructure, as well as health workers, and all these need money, and that’s why we decided to begin from ensuring that we are well-resourced to do all these things,” she said.
She assured the interns that something is being done.
“We want to ensure that we have a seamless program. I am calling on the Unions to allow for dialogue to take place and allow us to discuss those issues. A strike can’t get us solutions,” she said, calling on a number of stakeholders not to let the Ministry handle the issue alone. Nakhumicha said the National Treasury; Public Service Commission (PSC), the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC), Labour and Social Protection, and the Ministry of Education, among others, must be involved.
“The county governments should also be engaged as health is fully devolved,” she added.
On Monday, doctors issued the government with a one-week strike notice to post intern doctors, failure to which they will paralyze healthcare services.
Kenyans will start getting access to Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) services in July, Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha has said.
Nakhumicha revealed that already the Ministry of Health has finalized regulations to operationalize SHIF.
“The regulations are before the Attorney General’s office and are set to be gazette today (Friday),” Nakhumicha disclosed. She said a registration exercise is expected to kick off immediately after the gazettement of the regulations today.
New health scheme
This, she said, will set in motion the process of effecting the 2.75 per cent deductions starting this month as the government moves to roll out SHIF.
The new development would now see deductions from top earners rise sharply as the state begins to roll out the new health cover scheme.
For the salaried people earning up to Sh30,000 a month, there is going to be a drop of between three percent and 45 percent in contributions as those earning above Sh30,000 to Sh100,000.
This could lead to a rise in contributions by between one percent and 77 percent, while for those earning above Sh100,000, the deductions may be heavier going by the statistical analysis.
Salaried workers earning Sh100,000 will be paying Sh2,750, up from the current 1,700, representing a 62 per cent rise. Those drawing half a million shillings gross pay will see their deductions rise eight times to Sh13,750 unless a cap is introduced. Nakhumicha said that about 54 per cent of Kenyans will contribute Sh300 to the cover, with the rest of higher earners to pay more.
Related Posts
This Post Has 0 Comments