Inside Government’s plan to improve access to universal health coverage

A theatre at the PCEA Kikuyu Hospital./FILE

Expectant mothers are among those who will benefit from the Ministry of Health directive to cut doctors’ fees at private hospitals by 20 per cent.

Normal delivery will reduce from Sh72,000 to Sh57,600, while a procedure to fix fistula will now cost Sh64,000.

Health CS Silicy Kariuki in a statement on Tuesday said the ministry reduced the minimum and maximum professional fees by doctors to improve access to universal health coverage.

“To this end, the goodwill of doctors in the process of supporting universal health coverage by improving access by assuring affordability, cannot go unappreciated. They have essentially given Wanjiku a 41 per cent reduction,” Kariuki said.

The current fees gazetted in the 2016 guidelines for doctors require patients to pay a minimum of Sh1,800 for general consultation and a maximum of Sh5,000.

However, if the National Assembly Committee on Health approves the new charges, the minimum fee will be Sh1,440 while the maximum will be Sh4,000.

Consultations for specialists will now cost between Sh2,880 and Sh6,000.

Dentist consultations will cost Sh3,200 from Sh4,000.

Emergency night visits will reduce from Sh18,000 to Sh14,400, general medical and dental reports from Sh12,000 to Sh9,600, radical mastectomy from Sh180,000 to Sh144,000, skin biopsy from Sh36,000 to Sh28,800.

Adult circumcision will go down from Sh50,000 to Sh40,000 and child circumcision from Sh70,000 to Sh56,000.

Cancer resection and bone graft surgeries will cost Sh249,00 from Sh312,000 and vasectomy will go down from Sh18,000 to Sh14,400.

For a court appearance, a doctor normally charges a patient from Sh50,000 to Sh120,000 but the prices will now range from Sh40,000 to Sh96,000.

cabinet secretary for health Sicily Kariuki

Doctors, however, on Thursday last week, had asked for more time to provide their views on the new reduced professional fees.

The Kenya Medical Association said the public participation meeting by stakeholders on reviewing the fees was “rushed” and lacked input from professionals.

The Medical Practitioners and Dentists’ Board chairman George Magoha brushed it off, saying other doctors had attended the forum.

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