Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) has accused the Social Health Authority (SHA) of locking out facilities accredited by the Clinical Officers Council from offering healthcare services under the new scheme.
They are accusing the Ministry of Health of sidelining them in the roll-out despite those facilities being previously accredited by the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) which was in October folded to give way to the Social Health Insurance (SHIF).
Led by their union Chairperson Peterson Wachira, clinical officers in addition voiced concern over exclusion of this cadre of professionals from doing pre-authorization that is required by law before a patient undergoes medical surgery.
Consequently, the KUCO union has given the Government a three-weeks ultimatum to correct the anomaly, failure to which the over 35, 000 clinical officers will down their tools on December 23 to demand for what they termed as their rights.
“We have been performing surgeries on our patients as the law required under the now defunct NHIF and our duly registered facilities were also providing services under NHIF and there was no dispute, now the newly introduced Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) has excluded our facilities from those accredited to provide services to wananchi under it,” Wachira said.
Consequently, the union is indicting the Social Health Authority (SHA) which manages SHIF for what they said was discrimination against their facilities and called upon SHA to change this directive to include their facilities and allow them to do pre-authorization on patients as before instead of waiting for a qualified medical doctor, adding that many patients were suffering because of these directives.
Speaking in Naivasha on Friday on the sidelines of their Annual General Meeting (AGM) and engagement with stakeholders, Wachira claimed that they provide 80 per cent of all clinical services in the country as specialized medical doctors are inadequate.
“Specialized medical doctors in the country are not enough and the bulk of the medical services are thus provided by clinical officers. For instance, we have only five trained dermatology doctors in the country while there are over 150 clinical dermatologists who are filling this void,” KUCO chair said adding that clinical officers who have specialized in eye care and dental care for instance have been conducting surgeries on patient with precision but now these patients have to get approval from a dentist, before undergoing a surgery.
The union states that this exclusion has resulted in over 1,000 facilities owned by clinical officers which were previously registered under NHIF, being denied entry into SHIF, noting that this is a conflict of interest is a clear move to force clinical officers to register under Kenya Medical Practitioners` and Dentists` Council (KMPDC),”
They are demanding that SHA immediately list and publish the panel of qualified clinical officers submitted by the council, and must also publish all clinical officer-owned facilities registered under the Clinical Officers Council.
The union was categorical that clinical officers should be allowed to examine, diagnose, order laboratory and imaging investigations, prescribe treatment and perform procedures on their patients according to the scope of their training and in line with the medical profession and the law.
The Kenya Union of Clinical Officers (KUCO) was established to represent and advocate for the rights and welfare of clinical officers in Kenya. Recognizing the vital role clinical officers play in the healthcare system, KUCO emerged as a unifying body for these professionals, who are licensed and regulated by the Clinical Officers Council.
The SHA, which has since replaced the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) that has served the country since 1966, aims to provide affordable, accessible and quality healthcare services to all Kenyans through a comprehensive benefit package.
The Government officials have been urging Kenyans to register under the transformative health system that seeks to onboard millions to access affordable healthcare without discrimination.
The government also seeks to root out corruption that had for years bedeviled NHIF where billions of shillings were siphoned by unscrupulous officials in collaboration with a section of health service providers.
Although the early stage of the new system implementation is facing numerous challenges, the government has committed itself to addressing them to ensure a seamless system that lives up to its billing.
By Mabel Keya – Shikuku