Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, openly differed with the leader of the majority party in the National Assembly Kimani Ichung’wah over the implementation of the Social Health Authority (SHA).

In a special motion brought to the floor of the house by Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo, Millie Odhiambo told Ichung’wah that the transition was a mess and that urgent action needed to be taken.

“Honourable majority leader, please listen. The transition is not working well. Take this and inform whoever needs to be informed,” Odhiambo said.

This came after Ichung’wah revealed that members of parliament were bashing the same law that they themselves passed.

Propaganda

Ichung’wah challenged the MPs to explain to their constituents the potential benefits that the SHA portends, stating that the previous insurance (NHIF) was haemorrhaged by unscrupulous health service providers who are now supporting propaganda against SHA.

Ichung’wah equally mentioned that 14.4 million Kenyans were registered with SHA and that 7,802 hospitals had signed up as service providers for the Authority.

“I have just confirmed from the acting CEO of SHIF that today alone, 140,000 Kenyans have registered,” Ichungwah said.

Improving experience

On his part, the chairperson of the Health Departmental Committee of the National Assembly Robert Pukose said that 39,000 Kenyans had accessed renal care, 81,000 admissions had been processed and over 12,000 cancer patient visits had been processed.

He also noted that the authority had improved on its turnaround time.

“The average turnaround time for pre-authorisation has improved. Initially, we had challenges but as of today, the turnaround time is two hours,” Pukose said.

Suba South MP Caroli Omondi challenged the figures presented by the leaders in Parliament, stating that only 700,000 of the 14 million registered Kenyans were paid up, mostly as a result of being employed and the deductions being statutory.

Similarly, Githunguri MP Gathoni Wamuchomba stated that the government should consider reverting to the previous insurer NHIF until all the transition issues had been sorted.

“Let us not come here and read numbers. Numbers are not what our people are waiting for. They are waiting to hear how they are going to be treated tomorrow in hospital,” Wamuchomba said.

Seme MP James Nyikal questioned the accuracy of the means-testing tool which the government said would be used to assess and determine the premiums to be paid by Kenyans who are self-employed and indigents.