Trust NHIF, Kenyans told

Kenyans have been urged to trust in the National Hospital Insurance Fund's ability to lead the country into a health nation.

NHIF board Chairman Michael Kamau assured Kenyans of their commitment to delivering better healthcare services, through their monthly contributions.

"You can trust NHIF to lead you to become a health nation," said the former transport Cabinet Secretary (CS).

Kamau who has been NHIF board Chairman since January, said they intent to focus on preventive healthcare at the expense of curative, which at the end of the day is expensive to fund.

He spoke at the Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu on Tuesday, during the first day of the two day engagement between NHIF and Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU-K).

Kamau said President William Ruto is banking on NHIF to ensure Universal Health Care (UHC) succeeds this time round, after failing to take off as envisioned during the former administration.

On his part, Dr. Samson Kuhora, NHIF acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said it is wrong for some of the healthcare providers to deny NHIF beneficiaries health services because of delay in payment.

"NHIF payment is a continuous process. Healthcare providers denying beneficiaries healthcare services are going against contractual obligations," he said.

He stated that NHIF beneficiaries can easily access services from over 8, 000 health institutions they cooperate with across the country.

"This is an assurance that they can access medical services anywhere in the country," he added.

Under the same breadth, he warned employers against deducting funds from employees and failing to remit to NHIF on time or failing to remit completely.

Kuhora was appointed NHIF acting CEO in March, 2023.