Parliament Petitioned over Poor NHIF’s Edu-Afya Implementation in Secondary Schools
Joyce Cherono has petitioned the National Assembly in Kenya to address issues surrounding the implementation of the Edu-Afya Medical Scheme in public secondary schools.
The scheme was created by the Kenyan Ministry of Education and offers a comprehensive medical insurance policy for students in public secondary schools through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
The programme has been in effect since May 2018, and covers over three million students. The government pays a premium of Sh1,350 per student for this policy, which aims to provide affordable healthcare services in the country.
However, the petitioner claims that the programme is yet to be fully optimised, and has requested that the National Assembly cause the relevant ministries to conduct an urgent review of the framework for the implementation of the scheme.
Additionally, she called for the creation of clinics within public secondary schools, and the employment and deployment of licensed medical personnel.
Cherono, who is a practicing nurse and claims to have come up with the idea behind the programme, has raised concerns about the programme’s slow patient identification and billing, which often compel parents or guardians to bear the cost of treatment.
Furthermore, she argued that there was no monitoring and evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the scheme, and that the government had not undertaken sufficient public awareness of the programme to encourage enrolment.
Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has referred the petition to the Public Petitions Committee, which will consider the petition and report its findings to the House and the petitioner.
The petitioner has urged the committee to take appropriate action to ensure the programme benefits all public secondary school students equally.
This includes the need to deploy adequate infrastructure and medical personnel in schools, and to create public awareness of the programme to encourage enrolment.
The petitioner’s concerns highlight the importance of ensuring that government programmes are efficiently implemented and monitored to achieve their desired objectives.
It also underscores the role of civic participation in holding government accountable to its mandate to provide basic services to its citizens.
Parliament Petitioned over Poor NHIF’s Edu-Afya Implementation in Secondary Schools
