Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa has been put to task to clarify Safaricom’s involvement in the new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) program.
During an interview with Spice FM on Wednesday, September 18, she admitted the telco was contracted to lead the rollout of the program tech wise.
According to her, Safaricom was contracted to ensure continuity and sustainability of the program.
“It is a Safaricom-led consortium. Safaricom is a government agency. There is a government thing to it.
“So, they have a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and part of it is in terms of data connectivity. They are also supplying devices for the establishment of this digital superhighway,” she said.
Also Read: Parents Directed to Urgently Register Students Under SHIF
Will Safaricom Own SHIF Data?
However, the CS has explained that the Telco did not have access to data that was input in the system, noting that they only provided the hardware.
“It’s all about sustainability and that is probably why we had Safaricom contracted. The hardware is provided by Safaricom, but it belongs to the ministry.”
Further, she noted that the healthcare workers across the country will be in charge of data entry.
“There is system development and data input. The system development is being led by the consortium, but data entry will be done by our healthcare workers,” explained the CS.
Also Read: New SHIF Tariffs: Breakdown of Amount Available for Each Health Package (LIST)
Health CS Addresses the System Kicking Out Applicants
At the same time, she has addressed several challenges experienced by Kenyans during the registration process of the Social Health Insurance Fund.
Barasa has acknowledged that Kenyans above 70 years old are not able to register to the platform.
While registering, the system, provided by Safaricom PLC, rejects IDs beginning with the number zero, asking users to get another ID before proceeding.
“We are working on that and are looking into all those concerns and that is why this is time we are monitoring and taking in input from the healthcare providers and users of the system.”
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