The government has deployed 70 ICT experts to expedite the rollout of the Social Health Authority (SHA) healthcare scheme.

Medical Services Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai said the move seeks to address system challenges encountered by most health facilities while administering the new healthcare scheme.

Kimtai said a number of health facilities contracted for SHA services had reported challenges getting log-in credentials, a situation which threatened to slow down the rollout of the healthcare scheme.

“Our service providers alongside the digital health agencies have designated the ICT officers in each county for the purposes of ensuring the facilities are issued with the credentials so that they can seamlessly provide services,” he said.

Additionally, Kimtai said the deployment of ICT officials is expected to fast-track the rollout of SHA by ensuring users are able to access and use the system.

Speaking at a press conference in Kisumu town yesterday, the PS announced that the rollout of SHA has achieved a major milestone, with 13.4 million Kenyans already enrolled under the new healthcare scheme so far.

“We are encouraged by the ongoing registration process, the numbers are going up each day and as of today alone ( Thursday) 135,000 people were enlisted,” Kimtai said.

He asked Kenyans registering for SHA to promptly update their dependants to ensure they are captured for services.

And to further accelerate registration of Kenyans under SHA, Kimtai said the government has unveiled a multisectoral team to spearhead the process across the counties. The team, he said comprises county commissioners, county health executives and Community Health promoters who will reach out to eligible citizens to register for SHA.