Private hospitals demand Ksh.10.6B SHA claims, threaten to stop services for teachers in December

The private hospitals on Sunday announced suspension of services for patients covered under SHA, now requiring them to pay cash for services in their health facilities. 

The directive stems from rejected hospital claims, amounting to Ksh.10.6 billion, that SHA is yet to pay the private facilities. 

The private hospitals are accusing Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale of high headedness, saying he has referred to them as “thieves and cartels.”

“We have already proven that SHA is a bad borrower. It has received credit from us worth Ksh.76 billion, now the CS is calling us thieves and cartels. We are not going to extend credit moving  forward,” said RUPHA Chairperson Dr.Brian Lishenga on Monday. 

As the government plans to onboard teachers on the newly established Public Officers' Medical Scheme Fund under SHA, private hospitals have threatened to stop offering services to the public servants. 

The government plans to onboard teachers on the new scheme after the expiry of their current medical insurance cover provided by a consortium led by Minet Kenya. 

This transfer, RUPHA says, shall not be effective until claims owed to the hospitals are fully paid. 

“The migration of teachers insurance must not happen before MINNET and MAKL pay hospitals. Come December we will not offer services to teachers if hospitals are not paid,” said Dr. Lishega. 

RUPHA says that hospitals have not received up to Ksh.20 billion payments from Minet, owing to the services offered to teachers. The same applies to police. 

“The Kenyan police and teachers need to understand that before MAKL and Minet are sorted the possibility of them not receiving services is 100%. They must come to SHA on a clean plate,” said the RUPHA chairperson.