New health laws assented to by Kenya’s President William Ruto late last year are expected to transform the provision of healthcare services in the East African nation, Principal Secretary in the State Department of Public Health and Professional Standards Mary Muthoni, says.

In addition, the laws are expected to provide a legal room for leading healthcare providers in the world to set up shop in Kneya and reduce the cost of Kenyans seeking medical services abroad.

Ms Muthoni expressed optimism that the four laws, namely, Primary Health Care Act (2023), the Digital Health Act (2023), the Facility Improvement Financing Act (2023) and the Social Health Insurance Act (2023) that are anchored in the government’s bottom-up social and economic transformation ideology will power the universal healthcare coverage.

The PS was speaking during the occasion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Metropolis Star Lab Kenya and the launch of their state-of-the-art reference laboratory in Westlands, Nairobi, where she was the chief guest.

“This occasion is really significant because it demonstrates the desire for private partners to support the government in providing innovative health solutions, a vision shared by the current administration,” she said.

Muthoni said the Digital Health Act would not only provide the necessary legal and institutional framework for the use of the information technology in the provision of healthcare services but also facilitate the rollout of universal health coverage (UHC) in the country.

“How sweet would it be that our national / public health lab is interconnected with Metropolis, that anything we need, if we need to refer any sample from our lab to Metropolis lab we will not require it to be taken there physically or carry books all over,” she said.

She explained that the Digital Health Act is a real game-changer as it is going to revolutionalise the referral system right from the health facility at the bottom pyramid from dispensaries to Level III to IV hospitals and to diagnostic laboratories like Metropolis, which play the facilitative role of transferring data from these facilities to labs.

According to the PS, this development would result in increasing testing capacity and deploying a robust integrated sample referral system and enhancing quality control mechanisms to ensure the testing has integrity that is required. She disclosed that the Social Health Act of 2023 that would facilitate the roll out of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) would ensure that all patients in the country would be able to access services from labs and any health facility in the country as the government was determined to ensure that hospitals do not turn away sick patients in need of services for lack of money.

“The Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) where everybody will pay Ksh300 ($2.5) and those employed to pay 2.75 per cent of their gross pay will allow anybody unable to raise Ksh300 to access medical services,” she said.

The Emergency and Chronic Illness Fund would take care of long-term illness that have bedevilled Kenyans for many years, the explained further.

“Labs like Metropolis with proper diagnostics, proper equipment, proper human resources and proper infrastructure will give us the right diagnostics for treatment,” she said.

     The PS recalled that in the recent past, there had been a notable increase in the number of tests for diseases like HIV-Aids, tuberculosis and more people enrolled for in-patient services required constant monitoring. She said viral load testing volume shot up from 1 million in 2022 to over 1.2 million in 2023, while tuberculosis culture testing volume rose from 20,000 to 22,000 during the same period.

The PS pointed out that to improve these diagnostics and make them affordable and accessible to every Kenyan, the government would improve provision of diagnostic services.

“We recognise the critical role of screening toxins either for food safety, public health, particularly in light of regular cases of cancer from various sites across the country,” she noted.

Muthoni expressed satisfaction with the collaboration between Metropolis and the county government of Tharaka-Nithi and called for the extension of the cooperation with the other counties.

 She said the effects of climate change, which result in spikes of emergency infections and other health emergencies need innovative strategies to increase testing volumes.

“Strategies that we can deploy together both as private and public sectors include deploying rapid testing technology,” she explained.

Dr Walter Ongeti, the chief executive of the Kenya Accreditation Service (KENAS), noted that innovation advances made by Metropolis together with their procurement of modern equipment would play a key role in the provision healthcare and enhance overall well-being.

“Your commitment to excellence has driven you to create a facility that embodies cutting-edge technology, precision and unwavering innovation that you have combined in providing medical testing services with science of diagnostics ensuring accurate results that empower clinicians and benefit patients,” Dr Ongeti said.

He said as Metropolis celebrated their 10^th anniversary since starting operations in Kenya, the moment marked a milestone in their journey to transform healthcare and elevate diagnostic standards in Kenya.

Ms Patricia Arua, an official from the State Department of Investments Promotion in the Ministry of Trade, Investments and Industry said healthcare is key to the government’s bottom-up agenda.

“So when we see investments and comprehensive approach encompassing different phases of investments in the healthcare, we are very happy and we congratulate Metropolis as a leader in this sector,” Arua said.

She said Metropolis had established itself as a great healthcare partner in Kenya and it is known for its extensive network and continuous efforts to innovate and expand its crucial services in different parts of the country.

India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Kenya Rohit Vadhwana said healthcare is one of the pillars of Kenya-India bilateral relations, as a part from petroleum that Kenya imports from India, pharmaceutical products are the second largest trade item between the two countries.

“These products create a humanitarian or people-to-people connection and that is why Kenyans even with good medical facilities here prefer India for critical health treatment,” he said.

Mr Vadhwana revealed that very soon some of the biggest hospitals in India will set base in Kenya triggering more investments from the Asian subcontinent.

He said there was need for a roundtable between Kenya and India to explore more areas of business cooperation particularly in the healthcare sector noting that India was the largest investor in Kenya and a systemic approach would enhance trade between the two countries.

Metropolis Chief Business Development Officer in India Avadhut Joshi said Kenya has provided a conducive environment for medical services, which has resulted in the expansion of programme in the country and region.

Joshi noted that Metropolis Star Lab Kenya owns a chain of 21 diagnostic centres in Kenya and recently the company partnered with Tharaka-Nithi County to operate their Level V hospital laboratory under Community Led Impact Partnership (CLIP) and Public-Private Partnership arrangement.

• A Tell report