Hope is on the horizon for the tumultuous one-month of the Social Health Authority (SHA) roll-out if patient testimonies are anything to go by.

They are the voices of optimism.

The system failures that confronted the roll-out of the SHA since it replaced the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) are gradually fading, and the first signs – of what is likely to become a generational story – are quickly showing.

Macharia Kimani, an elderly patient who underwent surgery and was admitted to the male surgical ward at NPGH narrated that he was brought to the hospital 3 days ago and had to undergo emergency surgery.

“For the last 3 days I have been admitted to hospital I have not used a single penny. All my bills have been catered for through SHA,” Kimani said.

Kimani also urged Kenyans to stop the criticisms of SHA and register themselves so that they can benefit from it.

“Don’t be too fast in criticising this new health system. It works. Just register and benefit from it,” the elderly patient said and urged the government to sensitize Kenyans on SHA as most of them criticize it because they do not understand.

Breast surgery

Jane Wanjiru, a 39-year-old in the female surgical ward who underwent breast surgery, narrated how she failed trying to register with SHA through her phone.  She visited the hospital where she found out that her names were not in the system but the SHA offices assisted her.

“When I came, the SHA officers here registered me afresh and I was treated immediately. I have been here for the last 4 days, I went through surgery and am glad that SHA has catered for all the medical expenses,” Wanjiru said.

In the paediatric ward, Teresia Ndegwa a mother of an 8-year-old girl narrated how SHA paid for her daughter’s bills. The girl got a fracture on her left hand after she fell on her arm while playing with peers. She underwent a minor surgery.

Teresia’s family had never been registered under the NHIF as they were unable to raise the mandatory Sh500 monthly payment cover which was expensive for her being a low-income earner.

“When my daughter fell and got a fracture I was very stressed not knowing where to get money for the surgery but when I came here they asked me if am registered with SHA which I had not registered so they registered me and she was taken to the theatre immediately,” She said. She noted that all through their stay in hospital SHA has catered for their bills.

‘’I was not in NHIF and I was just registered for SHA when I brought my daughter for the surgery but still, I have managed to benefit from it. I tell Kenyans that SHA works and I thank President William Ruto for assisting even the low-income earners in Kenya in getting health services,” she said.

At the Haemodialysis department, Stanley Mwiti a patient going through dialysis said he undergoes dialysis sessions twice every week which was a bit costly because NHIF did not pay for all the bills.

“Since we moved from NHIF to SHA I can say it has assisted us on dialysis because it was costly. As I am supposed to go through two sessions each week. Right now the only thing that is stressful and have to pay for it is lycomin supplements that boost our haemoglobin,” Mwiti said.

He urged the government to assist in providing the Lycoming so that it can also be catered for in SHA.

At the Oncology centre 61-year-old Samuel Kangi a patient undergoing chemotherapy got relief with SHA since with NHIF he had to wait for one week to get a notification for him to come to the hospital; for the chemotherapy but with SHA he just comes for the sessions as per the given date by the doctors. “The truth is that NHIF was very slow we used to suffer. At times a notification message could take even a week for you to come to hospital but with SHA it has sorted all that,’’ Kangi said.