Browsing: 2019 FinAccess Survey

Dr Connie Keung (AMPATH Surgery Team Lead) and Dr Kyle Carpenter (Global Surgery Fellow and IU Surgery Resident) conducting a surgery in conjunction with Kenyan surgical counterparts in Eldoret, Kenya. Kenya’s ailing health sector has received a boost with the partnership between Boehringer Ingelheim and AMPATH for Universal Health Care (UHC) www.exchange.co.tz

Are medical bills driving people into poverty in Kenya?

Countries

Getting treatment in Kenya’s medical institutions is akin to signing up for an expensive loan that may not be easy to service.

For instance, people who have opted to go to India say that the costs in the Asian nation are twice or thrice cheaper for the medical part. They thus opt to raise funds for the airfare and get the treatment outside Kenya.

Getting treatment in Kenya is financially draining since the National Health Insurance Fund is largely unreliable. The national scheme is the biggest insurer covering more than 90 per cent of the about eight million Kenyans with health insurance.

This means that no matter what kind of illness, the patient has to dig into their pockets despite the cover.