SHA, providers face-off: Buck stops with Ruto
By Editorial, February 27, 2025It is becoming increasingly frightening that President William Ruto’s administration is playing roulette with healthcare.
Private and mission hospitals have suspended Social Health Authority (SHA) services over Sh30 billion in pending bills. Indeed, the hospitals have turned away patients, including those suffering from terminal diseases.
Churches and private institutions run nearly 650 hospitals across the country.
According to the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA), the suspension of services follows the halting of SHA and Medical Administrator Kenya Limited (MAKL) schemes, which cover police officers and teachers.
It has been pointed out that the transition between the defunct NHIF to SHA was mismanaged, making it difficult for heavily indebted hospitals to offer services.
And the major culprit is the national government, which stands accused of delays in remitting health insurance cover payments to hospitals. Hospital officials have pointed out that they were owed billions of shillings from the defunct NHIF.
Dr Brian Lishenga of RUPHA has sounded the alarm about planned layoffs of NHIF staff, who could go home with the institutional memory of the hospitals’ claims records; the termination of a contract with a vendor that built the old claims system; and the eventual closing of that platform.
But while hospitals claim that the government owes them money, SHA managers have maintained that the State has honoured its side of the bargain.
SHA boss Robert Ingasira says the government does not owe private hospitals even a single coin. Instead, he invited the facilities to accustom themselves with the claim management system to improve the accuracy of submissions.
Ingasira wondered why RUPHA members are constantly asking for arrears when the association’s facilities have been trained on accessing claims through an online dashboard, enabling them to track their payments efficiently.
It is hard to discern who between the hospitals and the health insurer is telling the truth. But one thing is clear: the ongoing tug-of-war is inflicting more pain on patients.
And the buck stops with President Ruto, who swore to uphold and protect the Constitution.
Article 43 of the Constitution decrees that every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health.