Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has warned that the Social Health Authority (SHA) is on the brink of collapse, claiming that the health system has not been working for the past four days.

Speaking during a United Alternative Government press briefing on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, the former DP insisted that the looming SHA failure could trigger a nationwide crisis in service delivery.

“I just want to say that a few months ago, I said SHA will collapse in six months, for the last four days the systems are down, that is a sign of collapse,” Gachagua stated.

Gachagua’s fears

Gachagua has been vocal on the health issue, raising alarm with the SHA system, maintaining that unpaid bills owed by the SHA to hospitals, particularly faith‑based and private facilities, are undermining the entire health system.

He claims that at the moment, the facilities are owed by the government of up to Ksh90 million, and the debt might lead to the hospitals shutting down.

Gov’t denies shut down claims

Meanwhile, the government has dismissed claims from Gachagua that the Social Health Authority (SHA) will collapse or shut down within six months, saying the national health system is stable, funded, and expanding.

Speaking on the status of the new health financing model, Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale said SHA has been in operation for 19 months and continues to register strong growth in membership, collections, and payments to health facilities across the country.

The cabinet secretary said claims that SHA would shut down are not supported by the facts, pointing to the scale of funds collected and disbursed since the authority began operations.

“As of today, more than 30 million Kenyans have registered with the Social Health Authority, and thousands more are still continuing to sign up daily,” he stated.

At the time, CS Duale expressed confidence in the system and reported that, under SHIF alone, health facilities have received Ksh 97 billion.

Civil servant and teacher medical schemes have been paid Ksh3.5 billion, while Ksh1.4 billion has been allocated to emergency, chronic, and critical illness cases.

The government has also allocated Ksh19 billion directly to primary health care services.

“These numbers show a system that is working, not one that is collapsing,” Duale said.