Medical Services Principal Secretary Dr Ouma Oluga has called for Kenya’s health reforms to make the constitutional right to healthcare a reality for every citizen by ensuring people can access medical services when they need them without being pushed into financial hardship.
Speaking on Tuesday during the opening of the Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Oluga said healthcare should be viewed as a basic right and not a privilege, noting that illness can strike at any time regardless of a person’s current health status.
He said the reforms being undertaken by the government are intended to turn the long-standing promise of healthcare into practical services that Kenyans can rely on, while protecting families from the financial burden of treatment and preventing deaths from illnesses that can be avoided.
“Health, at its best, is a promise. It's a promise to every citizen. A promise that we gave ourselves in the constitution. It's a promise that we have talked about for more than 60 years, and it's a promise that year after year we want to give ourselves as a service, but at its best, it's a promise that you don't know when the calamity will hit,” he said.
Oluga said the fact that many Kenyans are healthy at any given time should not create a false sense of security, as medical needs can arise without warning and require timely access to care.
“Most of us seated here or outside may be healthy. You don't know when the health need will come under the leadership of Your Excellency, the President. You have established reforms to turn that promise into a service, and to turn that service to be offered in a manner that does not ruin Families financially, and in a manner that does not facilitate families or loved ones to die from causes that we can prevent,” Oluga stressed.
The PS said the Kenya Health Summit had been organised to bring together stakeholders to assess the health reforms introduced by the government and examine how they are being put into practice.
He said the changes cover a wide range of areas, from policies and laws to the agencies responsible for implementing them and the actual delivery of healthcare services to citizens.
“Your Excellency, that is the reason why you have directed that we come together as a nation, so that we can unveil those reforms that you have established, from the policies to the legislative framework, to the implementation agencies, and to the deliveries.”
Oluga reiterated that the right to healthcare is provided for in the Constitution and should therefore be reflected in the way medical services are planned and delivered across the country.
He said the summit would also give stakeholders an opportunity to showcase reforms that have already been put in place while discussing those that are still being rolled out.
According to Oluga, the broader goal is to ensure that Kenya moves beyond simply recognising healthcare as a constitutional right and delivers services that citizens can access when they need them.
He said the reforms should ultimately help families avoid financial hardship caused by medical expenses while reducing deaths from conditions that can be prevented.
Oluga maintained that the health promise made to Kenyans over the years can only be fulfilled when the country’s policies, laws, institutions and service delivery systems work together to provide accessible and affordable healthcare.