The government will give priority to public health facilities in the payment of National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) pending bills, the Ministry of Health has announced. 

Health CS Deborah Barasa stated that some of the facilities including Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital have already received the first payment of NHIF pending bills. 

She was speaking during a routine evaluation of Social Health Authority (SHA) at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching where she also announced that health facilities countrywide will receive the first payment under SHA by the end of November. 

"We are happy with the progress of payment of NHIF pending bills. We have equally assured the health facilities that by the end of November they will have their first payment under SHA," she said. 

The government has already paid Sh5 billion of the Sh19 billion outstanding bill with an additional Sh2.5 billion set to be released by the Ministry according to the CS. 

Barasa has also reiterated the Ministry's commitment to expanding healthcare capacity and noted the challenge of unequal distribution of radiotherapy centers across the country.  

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She said that they have also taken note of specialists missing in facilities and mapped out areas to intervene. 

"We are looking forward to ensuring we have the cancer services equitably distributed across regions to ensure we do not have everything centrally placed in Nairobi. Our effort is on achieving Universal health coverage for all," she said. 

The CS said her ministry is committed to ensuring every Kenyan can access affordable healthcare and called on the collective responsibility of all stakeholders to have it succeed.