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A house committee has claimed that National Health Insurance Fund  (NHIF) officials have allegedly been requesting for ‘facilitation fees’ to fast-track processing of claims.

 The departmental committee on health chaired by Endebess MP Robert Pukose claimed NHIF branch managers in conjunction with senior management of the fund have been soliciting for bribes and kickbacks from private health facilities in a bid to expedite the processing of their payment claims or to prioritize certain claims ahead of others.

 At a meeting with the Social Health Authority (SHA) Board and NHIF Board to explain how the transition processes such as the  human resource transition, pension matters, redundancy procedures, recruitment of new staff, and assessment of the authority’s assets and liabilities was going on, the committee regretted that the unethical practice has led to the prioritization of their payments, while others are left to languish in a backlog of paperwork.

 Pukose regretted, without the facilitation fees, processing of claims either stalls or face significant delays thus making it impossible for Kenyans to access  essential healthcare services.

 Said Pukose: “We would like to know how we are handling payment of the outstanding bill to various health facilities because you will find that one of the hospitals which are giving kickbacks are the ones that are paid first even as late as even last month.”

 He added: “We also have a situation where NHIF staff are demanding bribes from some of the hospitals owed huge sums, and because the hospitals are not giving bribes, then you (NHIF) write a letter to send them to other facilities that are offering kickbacks.”

 Pukose questioned why healthcare facilities with pending debts spanning close to two years have not received payment.

“When our committee conducted inspections at health facilities flagged by NHIF for alleged fraudulent activities, we discovered that some hospitals, such as those in Nyahururu and Elburgon, which reportedly offered bribes, were omitted from the audit process. Conversely, hospitals that refused to engage in bribery found themselves on the audit list. It’s a shameful revelation,” he emphasized.