SHA saga: Duale alleges media ‘propaganda’ as MoH pulls down hospital record portal

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has dismissed what he calls propaganda and blackmail by “saboteurs” of the Social Health Authority (SHA) through the media, as public anger boils over persistent fraud in the government healthcare scheme.

This comes as SHA on Monday pulled down the public portal anyone could review the monthly payments the authority sent to hospitals in claims, as well as the Kenya Master Health Facility Registry (KMHFR), further fuelling criticism.

Pressure is mounting on the Health Ministry over questions on how SHA has been paying out claims to hospitals, with concerns of high bills, especially with low-level hospitals. 

KMHFR, hosted under the Health Ministry’s website, contains details of all health facilities and community units in Kenya, and Kenyans have been using it to track disbursements against SHA’s pay-out records and flag potential ghost facilities.

Since late Monday, however, users trying to log on to www.kmhfr.health.go.ke are getting the error message: ‘This site can’t be reached.’

Yet Duale says so-called SHA saboteurs “have recruited several groups, including some sections of the media, to advance their agenda.”

“No amount of propaganda or blackmail will deter us from fixing our healthcare system,” the CS wrote on X in response to a Tuesday headline by The Standard newspaper, which termed SHA a “rip-off.”

“Let them be warned: We are fixing this thing regardless of the noise! our work has just begun. We will not rest until every Kenyan has access to quality, affordable, and dignified healthcare, free from the burden of fraud,” he added.

The latest transparency questions about SHA’s claim processing involve Ladnan Hospital, a private facility the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA) has flagged as a hospital of interest, as SHA Chairperson Abdi Mohamed is its co-founder.

In a press conference on Monday, Duale said Mohamed “used to own Ladnan but he left, and there is no conflict of interest.”

The Pangani-based hospital would then distance itself from Mohamed in a Tuesday statement, saying it is now owned by Metropolitan Hospital Holdings Limited.

Metro Group, Metropolitan Hospital Holdings’ parent company, said Mohammed cut ties with the facility upon its acquisition and sold all his shares in the group in July 2023.

At present, Duale has said SHA claims worth Ksh.3 billion are being re-evaluated due to missing documents, while an additional Ksh.2.1 billion is under surveillance for further investigation.

During Monday’s news conference, he said the ministry has also rejected Ksh.10.6 billion in claims, citing fraudulent practices such as upcoding, falsification of medical records, conversion of outpatient cases into inpatient admissions, and phantom billing for non-existent patients.