Kenya’s new health insurance, SHA, will cover 36 healthcare services not available in the country, Citizen TV reported during its prime time bulletin on September 20.
What would the audience want to know after hearing that? Simple. What are those 36 services? That’s the first question in any viewer’s mind. Others may quickly follow: Who qualifies? What do the services cost? Why are they not available in Kenya? Is coverage abroad sustainable?
All valid. But a story like this can’t end before the first question is answered: What are the services? If you skip that, nobody remembers anything else. Yet Citizen TV did exactly that. They mentioned zero “procedures”, leaving watazamaji hanging — and likely pushing them to look elsewhere for answers.
Yes, TV has time limits, but even a short visual summary would have done the job. Fortunately — credit where due — Citizen Digital filled in the gap. The online version, headlined “Health CS Duale lists 36 healthcare services not available in Kenya under SHA”, went further. Brian Kimani’s story explained why these services are unavailable: Kenya lacks specialist expertise, implants, and access to certain prostheses.
To its credit, the article tried to summarise: “advanced joint replacement surgeries, highly specialised cancer therapies, and complex transplant procedures.” But then came the medical gobbledygook. “Among the services declared unavailable are wrist joint arthroplasty, metacarpal joint arthroplasty, and ankle joint arthroplasty.”
Huh? “Also included… allogeneic bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cell transplants… only autologous transplants are currently available… with allogeneic capacity remaining inadequate.”
What? “Other services include transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunts, Yttrium-90 (Y-90) radio-embolisation, and proton therapy…” Sigh.
Eventually, the full list was posted — practically a copy-paste of the Ministry of Health’s Gazette Notice. The effort was there. But the execution? Not great. The medical jargon would leave most readers blank.
Could this have been written in English?
Let’s start here: news must be accessible. If it matters, it must be told in a way anyone with secondary education can understand. And this story mattered.
Speak with an expert to break down the jargon. Or ask AI — why not — but verify. Heck, go further and ask AI what could have been done better. We did. Here’s what AI suggested:
1. Use plain language
Instead of “wrist joint arthroplasty”, just say “wrist joint replacement surgery”.
Instead of “intrauterine shunt placement”, say “surgery to treat blocked organs in unborn babies”.
2. Group services into categories
To make the story easier to follow, services could be grouped like this:
- Complex joint replacements
- Specialised cancer therapies
- Organ and stem cell transplants
- Foetal and maternal procedures
- Advanced imaging and diagnostics
- Experimental therapies
Then list 2–3 examples in each category, with a short, simple explanation of each and why it’s not offered locally.
3. Include real voices
Get a doctor to explain a couple of the services in layman’s terms. Or include a patient who needed the treatment and had to go abroad. That grounds the story. It makes it real.
4. Explain the “why” properly
Yes, Citizen Digital tried. But it could go deeper. The list mentions “lack of expertise”, “no legal framework”, or “unavailable implants”. Okay. But what’s the ministry doing to change that?
Health CS Aden Duale gave a press statement. Did reporters ask if this SHA coverage abroad is a temporary bridge, and if Kenya plans to build local capacity? Will we just keep exporting patients forever?
5. Say what this means for people
Citizen TV said the government will cover up to Sh500,000 for treatment abroad. But what does that include? Will it pay for flights? Accommodation? Is there a waiting list? Who decides who qualifies? These are the questions Kenyans need answered — in plain English.
This story is too important to leave wrapped in jargon and half-finished answers. So, when the follow-ups come — and they should — let’s get the reporting right. Break it down. Use plain English. And always, always answer the first question the audience will ask.
