Being a member of NHIF... BEWARE!!!

I have just spent most of the morning and a part of my lunchtime trying to untangle the things that NHIF DOES NOT tell its subscribers!!!

It does NOT tell us that all those NHIF accredited places are NOT for ALL subscribers of NHIF. They tell all Kenyans to subscribe to them even with as little as they can afford e.g. 500/- per month which will cover their out-patients bills, too.

Ah, but there's a catch as I found out today - that not all facilities that advertise at their entrances that they are NHIF accredited are really so. Only SOME of them will agree to see you despite you paying their monthly subscription. The reason you'll be told is that ONLY civil servants and the police are going to be seen there. Not the rest of us common Kenyans!

In case, you have downloaded their 'application', there's no end to the frustration you'll encounter to get information, though it claims that it is there for our convenience. Believe me, it is anything but that.

This 'app' only tells you that you're paid up or not, but not how long you are paid up, for, i.e. there's no way to find out up to what month you have paid. You send them a message from the same app and you'll NEVER get a reply!

Next, since they tell you that you are also covered for out-patient services, you have to choose from a long line of clinics and hospitals that are the most convenient for you. Well, there's a catch there. 

At no place does NHIF inform you that you can register yourself only at certain clinics and hospitals - not all of those that are listed there. Unfortunately, since they don't and I did not know that Premier Hospital in Nyali was not the one for me because it did not tell me so when I was registering there from their app, I went there today when I was in a lot of pain.

Soon after I presented my ID and NHIF card to them, I was told very politely by one of the girls working there that they only entertained and treated civil servants and cops NOT a commoner like me!

So now, I had to find another place that would accept my card, but since their app does not tell us which those are, I, and they (the two girls at Premier Hospital who were helping me out), were at a loss. They even tried calling NHIF and told them about my predicament, but didn't get any proper answer. In fact, they told the girls that I should go to their town offices to get sorted out!

Do these unfeeling people have any sense? How is somebody who is a senior citizen and not mobile, supposed to do all that? And also when I was in pain?

Therefore, I then chose to go to another clinic, where I used to go, and they had my record and which, the NHIF app told us accepted my card. I had no way of knowing if they really would.

Well, when I got there, they confirmed that they now accepted my type of NHIF card though previously they hadn't and I could now register with them. It was a relief, but again there was a catch. When the receptionist tried to register me there, it took her quite a while, but she managed it and I also got a confirmation that I was now registered there. Only problem was that I would ONLY BE ABLE TO USE MY CARD FROM 1ST JAN 2021!!!! 

Now, through no fault of mine I had to go through this run-around and that it is the fault of NHIF that I had registered myself at the 'wrong' place. So my question to this questionable outfit is - why don't they specify at their accredited facilities  that they list on their app as to which are available to the general Kenyan public and which are for the 'special people', only?! 

I would appreciate an answer as soon as possible.

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The decimating of one tree!

Since the 15th of April, somebody with our water company decided to cut down a very old Khungu tree just outside our (Umoja Estate), fence.

Why? So that our water company can put down water pipes for the complainant/s as they don't get water. All this is fine and they even got a permit to chop down the tree.

The cutting down started on the 15th, but my question is - how long does it take to cut a single tree? It seems, many, many days! Those of us who live right next to this ex-tree, now probably going to be firewood, have to put up with the terrible noise of the chainsaw used in chopping it up. It goes on for hours on end. We cannot talk, have a phone conversation, etc., without having to shout to be heard and are now getting very, very FED UP with the awful noise!

They were working even on a Sunday till nearly 6.00 pm. I tried calling our County control room where I was assured that someone was being sent out to deal with the situation, hours later when the noise persisted, I called again and was told that their vehicle was out and would come here when finished with whatever it was doing.

The long and the short of it all has been that our redoubtable County officialdom just gives us these numbers to call with over-polite people answering at the other end who make us feel that something will be done, but nothing really is!

Since I happen to be a member of the North Coase Rate-payers and Residents Association, I asked them for help and our office assistant immediately tried getting the help of the County Environment office who assured him that they would pay a visit the next day. Of course, nothing happened and to date, nothing has.

Now, my question to our various officials is this... Do they really work? And that too in a timely manner so that they are not too late. For example, in this case, it seems that they delay doing anything as they are waiting for the issue to pass them by and when they eventually do make their way to the offending place, everything will be over and the complainant will be told that they could not find anything going on...!

So, my question remains - how long does it take to chop up a single tree?