The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) yesterday lobbied the Senate to ensure more funds go to public hospitals for the country to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Speaking yesterday during the Senate Committee on Finance and Budget committee forum chaired by Isaac Mwaura (nominated), ICPAK officials said National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) should change tack and ensure more money goes to public hospitals.

Only 18.6 per cent of the Sh37.7 billion funds handled by NHIF, goes to public hospitals, 58.4 per cent go to private, while 18.5 per cent go to the mission hospitals.

Private sector

“There is a need to ensure that at least 70 per cent of NHIF disbursements go to public health institutions and service providers, with 30 per cent going to the private sector,” ICPAK chairperson Rose Mwaura said. She urged the government to increase the health budgetary allocation to the recommended 15 per cent of the total annual budget as recommended by the Africa Union (AU) in the Abuja declaration.

Mwaura said a study carried out last year by the Health Financing Reforms Expert Panel, disclosed that private hospitals received Sh22 billion from NHIF, while public hospitals and mission hospitals received Sh7 billion and Sh8 billion respectively out of the Sh37.7 billion in expenditure.

“Sector players should dialogue to end persistent labour unrest in the sector. We urge Labour Unions, National and County governments to work together to address the concerns of doctors, nurses and other cadres within the health care system,” she said. The accounting professionals body said the development will help build the capacity of public health institutions as opposed to utilising public funds to support private entities.

She added that few people with NHIF cards seek treatments in public hospitals, which raises doubts whether the government will achieve its UHC goal that has so far been rolled out in four counties.

National priority

President Uhuru Kenyatta on December 12, 2018, declared UHC to be a national priority, as part of his Big Four agenda for national sustainable development. ICPAK said the government should complete reconfiguration and digitisation of NHIF to ensure the system is ready for rollout before fully implementing the UHC.

Mwaura said there is a need for the National Treasury to be realistic in its revenue forecast, saying the past projections have been ambitious, thereby leading to the budget deficits.

“A trend analysis of revenue growth is critical in informing revenue projections for the coming years. Kenya’s budget process has inadequately facilitated accurate forecasts for resource collection. The common tendency has therefore been to make overly optimistic revenue projections leading to increased uncertainty of resource flows,” said the ICPAK boss.

The accountants body urged the Treasury to reschedule public debt to forestall what could trigger a crisis in future. But asked by Bungoma Senator, Moses Wetangula, if out of the total collection anything remains for development, she said the  Treasury should reschedule the debt and retire expensive loans to ease paying.