President Uhuru Kenyatta has directed the Ministry of Health to immediately suspend the new recommendations in the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) that had left Kenyans in shock.
Speaking at State House in Mombasa, President Kenyatta said the Ministry should involve all stakeholders before coming up with any changes that touch on the health of Kenyans.
NHIF had rolled out a raft of changes that would have seen poor Kenyans opt to die at their homes other than coughing out the thousands that NHIF had hoped to implement.
NHIF had introduced a 12-month upfront payment for new NHIF members, reduced the number of dependants to one wife and only five children, tactically locking out Kenyans who have more than one wife and more than five children.
In the new changes, a new member hoping to join NHIF was to pay at least 6,000 shillings upfront as compared to the current 1,000 and 1,500 shillings.