Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has dismissed claims of Social Health Authority payments to ghost hospitals.
He said flagged claims circulating on social media regarding certain facilities, stating that the majority of them were already closed in May.
He said that many facilities were closed, suspended, or downgraded, calling on the public to verify the information by checking the website of the regulator or DHA.
"The facilities you found circulating on social media are facilities that 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," Duale said.
“I want genuine Kenyans who come to us every day, who report to us every day, who have become our whistleblower and what they tell us is exactly what our system, our forensic auditors have picked,” he said.
He said the regulatory actions primarily impacted several counties, including Mandera, Homa Bay, Kisii, Wajir, Nairobi, Bungoma, and Kisumu.
The CS said the team is committed to fighting fraud and ensuring the provision of free, affordable, and accessible healthcare to the public.
He added that Sh9 billion has been paid for primary health, with Sh7.7 billion and Sh1.3 billion will be disbursed.
He said they are currently awaiting the
National Treasury to release additional funds.
On August 22, SHA clarified reports claiming it disbursed nearly Sh20 million to a non-existent health facility, saying the money was legitimately paid to Nyandiwa Level 4 Hospital in Homa Bay County.
SHA CEO Mercy Mwangangi said the hospital, located in Gwassi, Suba South, has been operational since the 1970s when it began as a dispensary and was later upgraded to a Level 4 hospital.
However, during the transition to Level Four Hospital, the facility retained its account name “Nyandiwa Dispensary,".
“The disbursement Sh19,998,720 represents legitimate and accumulated claims duly processed in line with SHA’s strict verification and payment protocols,” Mwangangi said in a statement.
The confusion may have arisen because there is also a different Nyandiwa Dispensary in Kasipul constituency, which does not have an account with SHA and never had the same with the now moribund NHIF.
"A simple verification with SHA or the Homa Bay County Department of Health would have clarified the distinction between Nyandiwa Level 4 Hospital (an operational facility with active claims), and the uncommissioned structure visited by journalists," she said.
Mwangangi further dismissed photos circulated in the media showing an abandoned building, saying the structure and said it was never contracted by SHA.
She reiterated that the authority has ethical principles, adding that all payments are subject to rigorous checks to protect public resources.
