NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 9 — President William Ruto has vowed radical reforms on processing of health insurance claims under a Digital Health law currently under consideration by Parliament.
Speaking during the installation of the Presbyterian Church’s Moderator Patrick Mutahi, the Head of State said the Digital Health Act (Digital Health Bill, 2023) will resolve runaway graft witnessed at the now defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), thus revolutionize the health sector.
“There is a challenge with NHIF owing to late payments and a large amount of the money going into corruption, pilferages, wastage, and theft. That is why as government we passed health laws including the digital health bill that will bring all our services into the digital platform,” said the head of state.
His sentiments echoed Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha’s recent remarks on chronic corruption in the public health sector.
Nakhumicha claimed some shadowy figures had infiltrated the NHIF system to extort money from the fund through repetitive and sometimes nonexistent medical procedures.
“We finished (sic) NHIF because people used to lie that their legs have been amputated and then lie about the same leg a second time. That is why we decided to introduce SHIF,” she said.
The government rolled out the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) to replace NHIF in October 2023 in a bid to anchor Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
President William Ruto, while signing the SHIF Bill into law, said the Act will ensure that all Kenyans access quality healthcare without discrimination.
NHIF will transfer all balances to SHIF after settling accrued claims.
