The National Hospital Insurance Fund has started paying ambulance service fees for all its members.
This follows a deal signed between NHIF and Kenya Red Cross. The ambulances will be available to members who need emergency medical treatment from their homes or in road accidents.
The new services will cost NHIF Sh. 490 million and will be provided through Red Cross’ subsidiary Eplus Limited.
“You don’t need to get on a boda boda or Probox to rush to hospital in time of an emergency. All you need now is to call the Red Cross toll free helpline – 1199 – at any time of day or night and you will get the service,” NHIF CEO Geoffrey Mwangi said.
He added: “We did open sourcing (for the evacuation service) competitively. Rolling the enhanced benefits nationwide will make more economical sense while adding more value as NHIF will still pay for the same subscription but to a bigger population,”
