Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Aden Duale has confirmed that verified Universal Health Coverage (UHC) staff will start receiving payments at the Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) rates from September 2025.

The announcement, made on his X account on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, follows a high-level consultative meeting between the Ministry of Health and the Council of Governors (CoG).

CS Duale led a delegation of senior Ministry of Health officials, including Principal Secretaries Ouma Oluga (Medical Services) and Mary Muthoni (Public Health and Professional Standards), as well as the CEOs of the Social Health Authority (SHA), Mercy Mwangangi, and the Digital Health Agency, Anthony Lenayara. The meeting was chaired by Wajir Governor and CoG Chairperson H.E. Ahmed Abdullahi.

During the discussions, CS Duale emphasised the need to transition UHC staff to permanent and pensionable terms, stressing that this move is essential for the full implementation of Universal Health Coverage across both national and county governments. To facilitate this, a committee comprising chairs of Health, Legal, Finance, and Human Resource committees, alongside the Governor of Makueni County, has been formed to finalise the modalities for paying UHC staff from September.

“Following an extensive discussion, we agreed: on UHC, the Ministry of Health and a committee consisting of the chairs of Health, Legal, Finance, and Human Resource Committees and the Governor of Makueni County have been formed to engage on modalities of paying the UHC workers at SRC rates from September as we conclude on the full transition and absorption to permanent and pensionable terms,” the statement read.

SHA rollout and staff verification

SHA presented a detailed roadmap on the use of claims reimbursements and introduced a Governors’ Dashboard to track payments from the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) to county health facilities. This initiative aims to ensure timely payments and improve service delivery at public health facilities.

On the operationalisation of ambulance and evacuation services by SHA, CS Duale indicated that further consultations between national and county governments are needed to finalise the rollout.

This announcement comes days after a verification exercise conducted by the State Department for Medical Services in collaboration with CoG. Out of 7,629 UHC staff verified, 215 were identified as non-existent or unqualified and have been removed from the payroll.

The remaining 7,414 staff will be formally absorbed, while cases of disciplinary issues will be handled in line with the Public Service Commission regulations.