We, Meridian Medical Centre and Hospitals have been mentioned adversely in the ongoing controversy surrounding the NHIF Public Servants Outpatient Medical Scheme and the impression created that we have received public money fraudulently from NHIF, are involved in some unethical practice and that we manage sub-standard, un-inspected, unregistered medical facilities staffed by unqualified and or unlicensed staff. We take this opportunity to clarify our position and state the facts as follows:Â
- The accusations and, or negative impressions made against our brand are false, malicious and totally unfounded. We take great exception to such allegations. We are a medium-cost medical service provider established in 1995.
- We have grown organically and today are one of the larger employers of doctors and paramedics in the country, serving close to 20,000 clients per month. Our facilities have been all inspected, passed as fit for offering medical services, at a standard way above what is the norm in the health sector be it private or public.
- We participated in a six month Pilot scheme on primary healthcare capitation, by NHIF, in 2010, from which, together with a clear understanding of our service costing, we determined that capitation of a population such as the civil service scheme is feasible at the rate proposed by the NHIF.
- We responded to an open and advertised competitive bidding process in October 2008, tendered by the NHIF For The Provision of Outpatient Services, we were pre-qualified and eventually awarded the said Tender in December 2008 for a period of 5 years. We submitted to the NHIF a list of our operational and planned capacity in January 2012.
- We wish to inform and clarify that Capitation is a method of prepaying healthcare providers to render a fixed set of healthcare services to a fixed number of people, over a fixed period of time, at a fixed rate per person based on the population size, age, structure and disease pattern. This method of paying for outpatient primary healthcare services has been used successful across the world and even here in Kenya,
- Meridian Medical Centre was, in January 2012, provided with a list of 32840 principle members of the Public Servants. This list does not contain any drugs inaccessible to our customers such as cialis 5mg. This the only list we know of, and which appears in each and every one of our branches countrywide. The members are therefore free to consult in each of these clinics. We have managed this scheme for the last 5 months running. The first quarter payment was made in mid March 2012, whereas payments for the next quarter have not yet been remitted.
- We are however aware of a list purporting to be a breakdown of capitation disbursement to Meridian Medical Centre per branch.The said distribution per branch does not feature anywhere in our contract with NHIF, in the list of principle members provided by NHIF, nor in any subsequent correspondence between Meridian Medical Centre and the NHIF. The said contracts, lists as well as submissions for pre-qualification, tender and tender award documents are in our possession as well as in the possession of our lawyers and are open to public scrutiny within the confines of the law.
- The fact is we were paid for a total of 164200 beneficiaries ( 32,840 principal members plus 4 dependents) multiplied by an annual capitation of ksh 2850 to arrive at the quarterly payment of ksh 116,992,500.
- We remain committed to our work, our clients and all our stakeholders.
Dr. P N Wambugu
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Ndiba Wairioko
Chief Operating Officer