Some patients in Homa Bay County have expressed concerns over some of the conditions laid down by the Social Health Authority (SHA) when seeking medication.
They lamented that patients are forced to visit lower-level hospitals for first visits, even when they are living in the neighborhood of the county referral hospital.
A resident Marren Awuor who hails from Gwassi in Suba South constituency said they are forced to spend money paying for medication because their SHA card is specified to be used in a particular health facility.
A similar problem faces some residents who live near Homa Bay County Teaching & Referral Hospital (HBCTRH).
They are forced to travel to seek medication at Makongeni sub-county hospital, from where they get referred to the HBCTRH.
Awuor complained that SHA forces them to incur a lot of transportation costs as they travel to smaller health facilities to seek referral letters.
“Those who live near the Homa Bay County Teaching & Referral Hospital cannot get medication in the hospital unless they have a referral letter from a lower-level hospital. The rule escalates the cost of medication,” Awuor said.
Another patient, Rose Anyango hailed SHA services but urged the government to fix the teething problems.
“SHA has helped me in settling medical bills I would not have managed with my pockets,” Anyango said.
A team from the Commission of Administrative Justice led by Chairman Charles Dulo visited the Country Referral Hospital Tuesday during which they took note of weaknesses and strengths of the SHA.
“Preliminary results reveal that there is still discrimination in implementation of SHA. Many patients still have to incur extra costs to access medication at a lower health facility,” he said.
Dulo said they were gathering more facts on implementation of SHA from different counties to enable them to write comprehensive recommendations to the government on how to improve the insurance cover.
“The report says that SHA is good but it has hitches. We will recommend to the government how to improve its implementation,” Dulo said.
By Davis Langat
