HIGHLIGHTS OF MY REMARKS AT THE HEALTH INVESTMENT CONFERENCE
1. We need equity, universality, affordability and quality in the health sector.
2. Our expenditure in health care must prioritize the needs of the most vulnerable, who suffer the largest burden of disease. This means prioritizing greater investment in access and protection measures for the poor.
3. Time has come for Kenya to roll out a medical scheme, including health insurance that is capable of delivering quality health care services to all our people.
4. We must bridge the gap between rural and urban population with regard to access to affordable healthcare facilities by building and managing hospitals and clinics in areas where majority of our people live.
5. We should aim at ensuring that in the next five years, the big cities and urban centres won’t be the only ones with access to excellent health facilities, and people won’t have to travel from their villages, in search of good doctors and hospitals.
6. Our counties also need to partner with financial institutions to start specialized finance options for those looking to invest in the sector.
7. We need to press banks to offer customized solutions to fit the needs of doctors, diagnostics centres, hospitals, and nursing homes in the counties. This will enable more people to have access to great healthcare in the years to come.
8. There remains a significant need for the establishment of a Health Service Commission to help us realize these goals.
9. A Health Service Commission would free Counties from the heavy responsibility of human resource management and allocation while allowing them to focus their resources and energies on managing health facilities, providing pharmaceutical services and medical supplies and ensuring the availability and functionality of diagnostic equipment.
10. I want to appeal to the County Public Service Boards in all the counties to follow on the footsteps of Mombasa and pay doctors so that we can put the crisis behind us.
11. This is money that was already budgeted for.
12. The directive by the Ministry of Health to withhold pay arrears amounts to bad faith that can only poison the waters leading to poor service delivery for wananchi.
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