Mutahi Kagwe, the Health Cabinet Secretary, said the government is aiming to reduce the cost of healthcare in the country so that it is affordable to everybody. According to the CS, affordable healthcare does not only refer to the cost of treatments but also to the quality of those services.
“The business model that private and faith-based health institutions use must change. We must standardise and harmonise these procedures,” said Kagwe.Using the example of a surgery that costs Sh4,000 in a government hospital, Kagwe claims that expenses in private facilities have been escalated to the point that the same procedure would cost Sh400,000.
At the same time, Kagwe stated that the government will begin mass vaccination programs for Covid-19 tomorrow.According to the CS, Kenyans are still under-vaccinated in comparison to other African countries.”We have now seen a continued decline in hospitalisations, fatality and positivity rates. The deaths witnessed are those who have not been vaccinated,” said Kagwe.
Kagwe made the statements at the Kenya Medical Training Institute (KMTC) in Nairobi, where he was launching an English Language Training program.The six-week training program is a collaboration between the United Kingdom and Kenya.Kagwe stated in October of last year that 300 nurses had failed the obligatory English language competence test. Only 10 out of 300 health workers who applied for positions with the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) passed the exams, according to the CS.
Deputy British High Commissioner to Kenya Josephine Gauld said the English training programme is a key step in enabling Kenyan nurses to access more employment opportunities in the UK healthcare systems.The programme, which has already with 25 students in physical class and 250 online, will help Kenyan nurses looking for jobs outside the country communicate better.
