Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir has issued a fresh directive to hospitals in the county even as the campaign to enroll more Kenyans in the Social Health Authority continues.
While speaking to hospital managers, health professionals, and community health promoters on Friday, December 6, in Mombasa, the governor directed hospitals to stop issuing handwritten prescriptions and ensure they use the SHA system to produce the prescriptions.
The governor noted that hospitals are implementing a divisive style where they tell patients that there are no medicines in the hospital but issue them with a handwritten prescription directing them to specific chemists.
“You are all aware that there is a style hospitals are using. They tell patients there are no medicines in the hospital but direct them to specific chemists. That system is going to end because, with SHA, you have to give the prescription from the system there will no longer be the issuance of handwritten prescriptions,” the governor revealed.
He further revealed that there will be no payment with cash, curbing cases of lost cash within the hospitals.
According to the governor, this system is going to encourage confidence in SHA among Mombasa residents and Kenyans at large. He pointed to a case where patients are sometimes forced to scuttle for medicine from hospital to hospital with fear that the medicines may become scarce.
This leads to a situation where some patients have so much medicine that may end up expiring while others are unlucky.
Governor Nassir has clarified that with the SHA, the system will be able to track if a patient took medicine from another hospital and ensure they clear what they took before issuing others, therefore ensuring all patients get equal medicines.
Championing for the Taifa Care, the Governor has revealed that if it becomes successful, the country will advance in the health sector.
He, however, emphasised the need to educate Kenyans on the importance of Taifa Care so that it does not continue to receive criticism and resistance.
So far, according to the Ministry of Health, 15.5 million Kenyans have registered for SHA, with the government devising new ways to ensure that this number increases.
The Mombasa Governor has assured senior government advisor Moses Kuria that he will mobilise local leaders, including MCAs, to drive a campaign locally to encourage more registrations in the county.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE