Duale: SHA has paid maternity fees for 50,000 teens

The Social Health Authority has paid health premiums for about 50,000 pregnant adolescents since inception, CS Aden Duale has revealed.

He said the premiums have enabled the young mothers at higher risk of complications, to access free antenatal, postnatal and newborn care services.

“This is a deliberate step to protect the vulnerable girls. Financial ability must never determine the survival of a mother or a child,” Duale said.

The CS spoke during the launch of the Maternal Perinatal Death Surveillance & Response Committee.

The committee’s major role will be to help review and recommend action on maternal deaths and help end preventable deaths.

“We have mapped out 26 high burden counties to benefit from the maternal and newborn health rapid initiative to drive improvement of maternal and newborn health outcome,” the CS said.

Duale also revealed that the ministry has issued a policy directive to SHA to enable maternity reimbursement of qualified of Level 2 and Level 3 facilities.

He said this will reduce the financial burden at the service point.

Duale said this was agreed upon on December 10 last year at a meeting between the national government and the Council of Governors, which was chaired by President William Ruto.

“We have now no excuse that SHA is not reimbursing or taking care patients at level 2 or level 3 in most of our far flung areas,” he said.

The ministry is also reviewing the SHA benefit package through the benefit package tariffs advisory panel in order to align with national maternal and newborn care guidelines.

Daule said the ministry is also in the process of finalising the roll out of SHA-supported ambulance referral system.

“No mother should die while being transferred form one facility to another facility. The SHA referral ambulance system will be one of its kind; well-equipped and qualified medics,” the CS said.

Duale cited the case of Samburu county that had to rely on Nakuru to county to conduct some blood tests.