Building Confidence Amongst Healthcare Service Users

By nature, human beings are very observant. One of the observations that have been made and questions have arisen is why do policymakers.

The Government of Kenya has been accused of the pathetic state of public health facilities in the country. Citizens say that lawmakers and policy formulators (mainly politicians) should not be allowed to access private facilities with taxpayers' money. They should use the public ones so that they can experience what ordinary Kenyans go through every day with a lack of proper services. The citizens believe if such a law is passed, the politicians would be careful to make sure that all health facilities under the county and national governments would be fully functional with the required services and personnel. In the current scenario, they make policies, rules, and regulations that are not enforced and citizens feel this is because this class of people has very good medical covers that they use in high-end private hospitals and out of the country.

This issue has been discussed for years but there seems to be no positive action that would help. With the onset of COVID-19, things were shaken somehow. There were politicians who were faced with the disease and they needed urgent interventions wherever they were and some entered public facilities. Confessions even of wealthy people that they realized that there is a need for all health facilities to be well serviced to deliver healthcare to anyone became a reality. The shortage of beds in private facilities at the peak of the pandemic pushed people to just be in any hospital.

Commenting on this, Jayesh Saini said that it is important for both the government and private owners of health facilities to be comfortable receiving attention in their own facilities. He said if they consider their services below them, is easily misconstrued to mean they are just commercial entities looking to make money and not service providers seeking to improve health outcomes. Using your own facility, he noted, assures both their staff and clients that they are proud and confident of the services they are offering. He said this is the same principle applied when someone serves a meal and unless reasons are known upfront, refusing to eat the meal is suspect.

With all the political positions in the country, the members and their families would make a great statement to the general populace. We truly hope that as we approach the full rollout of UHC, the public facilities shall be upgraded to the level where all and sundry can access them and get all the required services. Considering the comprehensive packages and benefits that the policymakers and enforcers are given, if this were taken back into the society through the use of public facilities to some extent, then the burden that is being carried by our highly taxed society would reduce and more people would access the services.