Editor's Review

Kipchumba Murkomen: UHC is dead. People are dying in hundreds because of COVID19. Most are dying coz of lack of oxygen. ICU beds are few and full. It’s a mess and the government has given up. We are on our own. I know you will say I am a leader and I should do something, but they won’t listen they want BBI

Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has claimed that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Universal Health Coverage (UHC) initiative is dead.

In a tweet, Murkomen noted that UHC has failed to live up to its expectation as Kenyans are dying due to coronavirus.

Murkomen argues most of the fatalities are as a result of lack of oxygen and ICU beds which are issues that would have been dealt with had UHC been effective.

“UHC is dead. People are dying in hundreds because of COVID19. Most are dying coz of lack of oxygen. ICU beds are few and full. It’s a mess and the government has given up. We are on our own. I know you will say I am a leader and I should do something, but they won’t listen they want BBI,” he tweeted.


Objectives of UHC Initiative in Kenya

UHC is one of President Kenyatta’s legacy projects under the Big 4 agenda. The pilot phase was launched in 2018 in four counties namely; Kisumu, Nyeri, Machakos and Isiolo.

According to the government, the main objectives of UHC are; ensuring that Kenyans have access to an explicit unified progressive health benefit package, expansion of the population under Universal Health Insurance coverage, increasing the availability and coverage of quality essential interventions, ensuring financial risk protection for Kenyans and with a special focus for the poor and the vulnerable groups and ensuring adequacy of Health resources for delivery of health services, among others.