It’s all systems go for the Social  Health Authority (SHA) roll-out set for October 1 with more than one million Kenyans already registered under the new health scheme.

The Ministry of Health has said the process of rolling out the new scheme is at 98 per cent successful, and just putting together the remaining pieces of blocks, paving way for Health Cabinet Secretary, Dr Deborah Barasa to call on Kenyans to continue registering.

“Over 1.2 million people have voluntarily registered. Ensure you register before visiting healthcare facilities. SHA will transfer existing NHIF members to the new system, so it’s important to complete your registration,” she said yesterday.

She was speaking during the opening session of the training of master trainers for the rollout of the health provider portal in all health facilities in the country at the Kenya School of Government (KSG).

Registration platform

A total of 1.16 million Kenyans have registered with the USSD code *147#, which turns out to be the most popular registration platform among Kenyans with 700,300 people enrolling on it. According to SHA acting Chief Executive Officer, Elijah Wachira, the USSD code is followed by the SHA.GO.KE portal with 400,000 Kenyans enrolling through it, and the Afya Yangu platform comes third at 27, 000 people.

“A total of 7, 876 healthcare providers have already been empanelled through the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) and the National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (NACADA) in readiness for SHA rollout,” he said in a presentation.

Barasa said SHA will move current National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) members to the new system.

The CS said the training is aimed at equipping healthcare workers with the skills needed to provide an improved healthcare experience.

“This training will ensure nationwide coverage, enhancing operational efficiency for better patient outcomes and strengthening health financing systems,” she said.

Potential fraud

In order to assure the efficiency of the SHA, minimise human interphase and eliminate the potential of fraud, Dr Barasa explained that the government has invested heavily in comprehensive and integrated end-to-end digitisation of health care.

“Over the last several months, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Council of Governors and Safaricom-led Consortium, has developed a comprehensive and integrated system which will enable registration of Kenyans as members of SHA, interconnect all health facilities in the country, the Social Health Authority and KEMSA,” she said.

This, Dr Barasa pointed out, will be done through the Health Information Exchange which is commonly referred to as the” Digital Health Superhighway”.

The training which involves about 100 masters of trainers trainees, 80 from the defunct NHIF, 10 from the MOH and the remaining from partners, is the first step towards the deployment of the system, the CS added.

“The master trainers will train the county and health facility teams and oversee deployment of the Social Health Authority Health Provider Portal in all health facilities in the country,” she said.

This system will replace the NHIF claims management system in the facilities in readiness to roll out of SHA services on the 1st of October 2024.

It’s expected that the training will go on concurrently with training on and deployment of health management information systems and training of Community Health Promoters (CHPs) and Community Health Assistants (CHAs) who will support the assisted registration to social health Authority.

She called on the transition to SHA specifically for the NHIF staff to be handled with utmost care, according to the laid down procedures by the law and the various human resource instruments.

Kenyans will therefore not be able to access healthcare services under NHIF after September 30, as the government plans to fully transition to the new health insurance scheme SHIF.

Wachira said the benefits under the SHIF shall take effect on October 1, and will be managed by the SHA.

SHIF was rolled out on July 1 after the National Health Insurance Fund expired on June 30.

Medical Services Principal Secretary, Harry Kimtai called on the NHIF staff to embrace the programme and make it a success under their watch.