THE auditor general’s report about the workings and contracts signed between the government and a host of private firms in the running of the new pubic health insurance scheme has brought to the centre-stage the need for transparency and accountability in running public affairs.
The public has reason to demand the truth from the bureaucrats responsible for approving such deals.
The Social Health Authority, the successor of the much-maligned National Health Insurance Fund, was launched with such funfare and promise that it is inconceivable only four months later it would be embroiled in such controversy.
It was not expected that after the launch there would be reports of patients being turned away from public and even private hospitals.
But it is unfathomable that many months later, despite public announcements about unpaid invoices from private hospitals having been cleared, the same complaints linger.
The Ministry of Health mandarins responsible for running SHA must be creative and innovative enough to find a working solution to some of these long-standing disputes.
The Kenya Kwanza administration owes the public both an explanation as to why private firms play the role they play and reassure the public as to the safety guarantees the ministry has put in place to guard the interest of the tax-paying public.
Quote of the day: “When good people in any
country cease their vigilance and struggle,
then evil men prevail.” —American author
and humanitarian Pearl S Buck died on March
6, 1973.
