16 million Kenyans now on Taifa Care as Gov’t launches grassroots recruitment

Almost two months have lapsed since the Universal Health Coverage through the Social Health Authority (SHA) was rolled out and the enrolment numbers into the programme are not yet up to the expected levels, with only 16 million registrations to date.

The Ministry of Health now seeks to get the remaining three quarters of the country's estimated 56 million people onboard Taifa Care through a mass registration on constituency level.

"Tusikie vile watu wanasema, tujisali tuone vile tutaendelea, tujionee vile huduma iko," Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa said while kicking off the exercise in Kikuyu, Kiambu County.

"Tukijisajili hata kwa vituo vya afya ukiwa na kitambulisho unapata matibabu bila malipo," she added.

The residents of Kikuyu were, however, keen to see the benefits of the scheme.

"Tumeambiwa tutasaidika kwa sababu tukienda hospitali tumekuwa tukilipa," one resident noted.

Government officials said they have since ironed out the problems in the roll out that initially saw some patients fail to access crucial services, while touting the benefits that will come with the new medical scheme.

The mass registration exercise at the constituency level will be scaled to all the constituencies in the country as the authority seeks to meet it’s target of 85 per cent registrations by the end of the year.