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The Senate Health Committee is set to commence investigations on claims of siphoning off the funds in the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in dubious claims by benefactor health facilities across the country.

This follows an outcry from the public that some health facilities are colluding with NHIF officials to siphon funds by inflating the bills for the patients using the NHIF insurance covers.

Already Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Susan Nakhumicha has ordered a comprehensive lifestyle audit to be conducted on NHIF staff to ensure transparency and accountability within the organization.

In the probe to be conducted by the Senate Health Committee, whistleblowers are expected to provide detailed information on the cartels involved in the alleged corrupt practices at NHIF.

Nominated Senator Esther Okenyuri now wants the committee chaired by Uasin Gishu Senator Jackson Mandago to shed light on reports of collusion with NHIF staff and directors of such facilities.

In a statement sought on the floor of the House, Senator Okenyuri wants the committee to state measures put in place to recover public funds lost in collisions between employees of the Fund and directors of health facilities.

“I seek a statement from the Standing Committee on Health on the abnormal rise in the accreditation of new clinics and health facilities across the country by the Board of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) after the rollout of the Universal Health Coverage programme,” Okenyuri said in her statement.

The statement comes after Nakhumicha suspended NHIF branch managers in certain areas after the media exposed how rogue hospitals stole millions of shillings through suspect medical camps targeting elderly patients.

In what could turn out to be another scandal rocking the nascent Kenya Kwanza administration, Nakhumicha directed the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board to also commence investigations into the scandal and give the ministry an interim report within 48 hours.

The facilities to be investigated include Jekim Medical Centre in Meru, St Peter’s Orthopaedic and Surgical Hospital in Kiambu, Afya Bora Hospital in Kirinyaga, Joy Nursing and Maternity Hospital in Nairobi, Afya Bora Hospital Annex in Kirinyaga, Jekim Hospital in Meru, Berut Pharmacy and Medical Centre and Amal Hospital Limited.

But Okenyuri wants the committee to also indicate the number of health facilities per year, per county, accredited by NHIF in the past four years (2019-2023) vis-a-vis those of the preceding four years (2014-2018).

In addition, Okenyuri in her statement wants disclosure of the quarterly trajectory of payments made from the Fund to the NHIF top 20th percentile-benefactor-hospitals per county, from the day those top-20th – percentile-beneficiary facilities were accredited as hospitals from the year 2019 or whichever is earlier.

“The committee should indicate the amount of funds recovered through such measures instituted by the Fund in the last five years, stating deficiencies and interventions, if any,” Okenyuri said in her statement.