Moments of high drama unfolded on live television as Nandi
Senator Samson Cherargei called Health CS Aden Duale to respond to questions on
the Social Health Authority (SHA).
This happened during a heated debate with Nyamira Senator
Okong’o Omogeni on Wednesday.
The debate, hosted by Debarl Inea on TV47, turned tense when
Omogeni claimed that SHA had failed to honor agreements with private health
facilities, claiming many had shunned the program due to delayed payments.
“Let me call Waziri Duale so that we know the truth,”
Cherargei said as the host agreed.
On speakerphone, Cherargei addressed Duale live: “Hello
Waziri, I’m on air with Senator Okong’o Omogeni. He alleges that private
facilities have rejected SHA.”
Duale strongly refuted the claims, highlighting that the SHA
has contracts with 9,426 health facilities across the country, including
faith-based, public, and private institutions.
“The majority—about 67 per cent—are private facilities, from
level 2 to level 6, including Agha Khan, Nairobi West, and the Nairobi
Hospital,” he said.
He stated that no facility, including private hospitals, can
survive without SHA.
“If any contracted facility denies services to Kenyans, we
will not only terminate their SHA contract but also report them to the
regulator to revoke their license. This is criminal,” Duale added.
According to Duale, the SHA recently paid Sh11 billion, most
of which went to private facilities.
He also revealed that 1,300 facilities were closed due to
fraud, with the highest cases in Mandera, Wajir, Kisii, Homa Bay, Nairobi, and
Kisumu counties.
“We have flagged 1,105 Kenyans with multiple beneficiaries
in the system. We have flagged women who have submitted over 120 husbands and
over 85 men who submitted that they have wives between 26 and 72. The system can
only allow you four spouses,” he noted.
Omogeni challenged the CS on the benefits available to
patients, citing cases where public hospitals in Nyamira could not offer
specific services, forcing residents to use private hospitals.
Duale responded that SHA covers inpatient and outpatient
services, including specialised care such as dialysis (three sessions per
week), but no insurance system pays 100 per cent of all costs.
Omogeni sought to know why SHA is only paying a percentage
of the bills incurred by poor Kenyans and not the entire amount.
He cited a case in Nyamira where a patient could not get services at the Nyamira County Referral Hospital.
The CS explained that no insurance countrywide pays 100 per
cent of the bills. He said that the health system in Nyamira has collapsed.
