Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has dismissed growing calls for his resignation amid reports of fraud involving ghost hospitals at the Social Health Authority (SHA), saying his focus is on fixing the country’s healthcare system.

Speaking in Narok County on Saturday, August 30, 2025, Duale said he would not bow to pressure from critics, whom he accused of trying to undermine the government’s efforts to achieve universal health coverage.

“We will not gamble with the health of the people of Kenya. As the President has said, we will make healthcare in our country accessible and equitable. Every Kenyan must have medical insurance,” he remarked.

Meaningful change

The CS likened his mission to reforms introduced in the public transport sector two decades ago, asserting that he would not step aside until meaningful change is achieved.

“Just as the late John Michuki once said that passengers would no longer stand in matatus but must be seated, I am even more determined. I am not going anywhere until I streamline this health sector,” Duale declared.

He further accused unnamed individuals of orchestrating negative media coverage aimed at discrediting him, insisting he would not be intimidated.

“If you are paying newspapers to run stories against me every day, I am not threatened. Do you want me to fight those stealing from Kenyans?” he posed.

Addressing SHA fraud

Duale’s statement comes just a week after he dismissed widespread reports that the Social Health Authority had been paying millions of shillings to ghost hospitals.

In a statement posted on his X account on August 25, 2025, Duale reiterated his earlier assertions that many facilities being circulated online as fraudulent had been sanctioned earlier in the year.

“No amount of propaganda or blackmail will deter us from fixing our healthcare system. We know saboteurs of SHA have recruited several groups, including some sections of the media, to advance their agenda. Let them be warned: We are fixing this thing regardless of the noise,” Duale wrote.

“The facilities you found circulating on social media are facilities that the majority of them were closed in May, some were suspended, some were downgraded. What Kenyans on social media are telling us is information that we already have,” he added.