Deeksha Gupta

The Majority  of people believe that health services should be offered in a fixed/static building. This notion is ingrained because that is what people have grown up knowing and seeing. The mention of mobile health clinics invokes various emotions dependent on the people groups; for those in urban areas where there are clinics and hospitals, it would be a raw deal to be told to access services in a mobile clinic while to one in a remote place with no facilities, a mobile clinic would be a Godsent. A mobile health clinic is a vehicle e.g. a bus, trailer, or container that is innovatively modified and equipped with facilities and medical personnel needed to provide certain health services. The services and medical personnel are dependent on factors such as the size of the clinic and the target population. Services available can include doctor consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, and triage. Commenting on the use of mobile health clinics, Jayesh Saini stated that the main purpose of ...

  More often than not, when people are discussing healthcare issues, though patients are the most critical member of stakeholders, their issues are discussed as for those needing help and not those who can help in better health outcomes. It is interesting that hardly do we hear policymakers speaking like they are, can be, or have ever been patients and so they provide policies that even with time can be detrimental or retrogressive even for them when they become patients. The role and importance of patients in the broad spectrum of healthcare matters cannot be ignored. The more patients – current or past, are engaged in decisions making processes, the better it is for progressive development in the healthcare sector. Theirs are experiential and not theoretical and can and do give a clearer picture of the pros and cons of various issues in the sector, whether at a macro or micro level. Patient engagement starts from an individual level to the national level. On a small scale, it i...

The bottom line of attaining UHC is to bring life-saving health care interventions and interceptions to those who need it most when needed, irrespective of their economic status. Private health insurers for the longest have offered health coverage for those who can afford it, obviously leaving out the poor or those, who on their own cannot afford to buy insurance. In fact, their targets have mainly been employed through corporate covers or the middle- and upper-income individuals. Rarely have they had covers for the lower sector of the society, apart from the recent years where various groups have come together to contribute towards goals and have made health insurance one of the benefits and the private insurers have accepted such groups – Women, youth, men and special needs groups.  The question then begs, how does the private insurance sector fit into a universal cover for all, especially in countries that either have or are rolling out affordable public social insurance? Will t...

The best healthcare financing model remains a priority if nations are to achieve Universal Health Coverage within the stipulated timeframes; best in terms of affordability, accessibility, and sustainability across the entire population. To attain UHC, one has to consider the macro-economic, socio-cultural, and political context of each country so as to prioritize needs and intervention processes. Though there are some basic commons, it is perceived that each country must develop a system that works for it and many have borrowed diverse aspects from different countries and they are working. Jayesh Saini, an entrepreneur, believes that for any plan to work, one must remember that utilization of health care services depends on the affordability of the services, which in turn determines the survival of the health facility. He says that policies can be developed even by providers against which they provide the needed services but if the affordability is not put in the mix of things, we ca...

Besides understanding the best payment model, there are other factors needed for the success of the UHC rollout as this will affect in the long run the pricing and the raising of funds. 1) A healthcare investor Jayesh Saini points out that to ensure value-based, patient-centric care is provided effectively and in a timely manner, parameters such as how the financial resources shall be accrued, human capital requirements, and how to ensure it is available, technology within facilities and departments and across facilities. He points out that it is vital that have fees are set, the entire ecosystem is put into consideration to make sure none is disadvantaged over the other but that each has a return on their investments, whether the private or public sector or the populace who are contributing to for their healthcare. 2) The governments and other investors will also need to consider factors key to preventive health to reduce medical bills in the short term and expenditure in the long run...

 There continues to be an increased demand for quality, affordable and easily accessible medical services in Kenya. This is mainly attributed to increased and improved awareness of need to keep healthy as more severe conditions surface needing urgent attention. More lifestyle diseases are prompting many people to want to be sure they can access services without delay when needed. The demand for services has caused providers to rethink their models of operation. In the past, only the government was known to have facilities distributed geographically across most towns in the country. This has now changed as the demand for continuity and consistency has increased. Service providers have resorted to have branches in others towns besides where their head office or main facility is located. This is not only to have more patients attend the facilities but also to allow their existing clients have the same quality of services across various regions. This provides comfort and convenience ...

The majority of people believe that health services should be offered in a fixed/static building. This notion is ingrained because that is what people have grown up knowing and seeing. The mention of mobile health clinics invokes various emotions dependent on the people groups; for those in urban areas where there are clinics and hospitals, it would be a raw deal to be told to access services in a mobile clinic while to one in a remote place with no facilities, a mobile clinic would be a Godsent. A mobile health clinic is a vehicle e.g.   a bus, trailer or container that is innovatively modified and equipped with facilities and medical personnel needed to provide certain health services. The services and medical personnel are dependent on factors such as the size of the clinic and the target population. Services available can include doctor consultation, laboratory, pharmacy, and triage. Commenting on the use of mobile health clinics, Jayesh Saini stated that the main purpose...