The Cabinet, Kenya’s apex policy-making has considered and approved 4 crucial Bills that promote healthcare, for transmission to Parliament. This is in line with the Kenya Kwanza administration’s pledge to accelerate Kenya’s attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as set out under the Government’s Bottom Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA).
The Cabinet, while meeting in Kakamega approved the Primary Health Care Bill, 2023; The Digital Health Bill, 2023; The Facility Improvement Financing Bill, 2023; and The Social Health Insurance Bill, 2023.
The Cabinet said these bills usher in a paradigm in the legal and institutional framework for healthcare in Kenya by repealing the current National Health Insurance Fund and establishing in its place the following funds: Primary Healthcare Fund; Social Health Insurance Fund; and Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund.
The Digital Health Bill addressees the existing legal and regulatory gaps in the framework for the e-Health ecosystem and its data lifecycle; enabling the development of standards towards the provision of m-health, telemedicine, and e-learning in healthcare.
This new architecture is expected to provide a framework for improved health outcomes and financial protection of families in fidelity to the State’s solemn duty to guarantee the health and welfare of all her citizens.
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