‘Rising hospital visits prove SHA success’ – Kuria asserts amid criticism of system failures

President William Ruto’s Senior Economic Advisor, Moses Kuria, has defended the Social Health Authority following the recent failures at Kenyatta National Hospital.

The downtime which occurred on January 15, 2025, led to some patients storming Afya House and disrupting a press conference held by the Cabinet Secretary for Health Deborah Barasa.

In an interview with a local media station on Monday, January 20, 2025, Kuria attributed the systemic failure to a surge in the number of patients seeking assistance at the facility.

“The numbers in our level 5 hospitals like KNH are right now overwhelming. People are really going to facilities,” he said.

The Senior Advisor to the President’s Council of Economic Advisors further attributed this delay to the government’s focus on Primary Healthcare Facilities.

“It’s true that our large hospitals are facing problems as a lot of focus has gone into Primary Healthcare Facilities; Levels 2, 3 and 4. This is a vote of confidence in our system,” Kuria said.

According to Kuria, the rise in SHA registrations compared to the previous National Health Insurance Fund demonstrates public trust in the new system.

“NHIF at its peak had 15 million Kenyans, Where were the other 40 million? If you find them now coming it means something good is happening. I always say the nectar does not send an invitational letter to the bees, the bees just happen. A lot of people are getting confidence because payments are being done and SHA is honouring the payments that’s why people are coming to hospitals,” he said.

Stranded Patients

On January 15, 2025, a group of patients interrupted a press conference following reports that hundreds were stranded at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) due to a system failure.

The briefing was intended to update Kenyans on the progress of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

The patients, some of whom managed to gain entry into Afya House, shared their struggles and accused officials of neglecting their concerns.

“We’ve gone to NHIF offices, the ICT department, and other offices on these floors, but no one is helping us,” one patient stated.

“They keep sending us in circles, knowing that there are no solutions available at the places they refer us to.”

Among the group was a mother of a 3-day-old baby who had undergone a cesarean section and was unable to leave the hospital due to unresolved billing issues.

“This system is failing us. We demand the truth about SHIF and why it’s causing so much suffering,” the mother said.

Alternative system

In a statement dated January 16, 2025, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa revealed that the Ministry will have an alternative system to support operations and allow for the processing of patients in case the SHA system fails again.

“We are pleased to report to Kenyans that we have an alternative system in place, and we have observed that there has been no disruption in services,” she said.

She further apologized for the incident at Kenyatta National Hospital and assured everyone that the issue had been resolved.

“We also want to apologize on behalf of the Ministry for the challenges our patients faced. We have identified the patients who came to the Ministry, and we are looking at how we can improve their services in the future. Some of them have been able to return, and we will have testimonials from them,” the statement read.