Governors say they were sidelined in implementation of SHIF

Now, the Council of Governors (COG) has also accused the national government of bypassing them in the implementation of the programme. 

Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki, the chairperson of COG health committee said that none of the counties had signed an Intergovernmental Participatory Agreement (IPA) with the implementation authority yet most of the health facilities are run by counties.

Speaking during the COG quarterly meeting in Naivasha, Muthomi noted that tens of health facilities are yet to be registered, raising concern among patients.

He noted that patients suffering from chronic diseases are now in danger as they lack a medical cover since the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) was stopped on September 30, 2024. 

He called on treasury to increase funding to support the transition exercise which is marred by many challenges including lack of enough devices to register new members.

However, Public Health Principal Secretary Harry Kimutai assured the Governors that the government was seeking an extra 65,000 devices for all public health facilities.

He admitted that the registration process faced teething challenges, and the ministry is in talks with various stakeholders including COG to resolve them.

He patients ailing from chronic diseases and had been registered under NHIF that they would be covered under the new scheme.

The ministry, Kimutai said, shall also audit the Ksh.30B that NHIF allegedly owes counties. He said it has released Ksh.1B to KEMSA to procure critical medical supplies to counties.

He said that under the new scheme, patients will have three months to pay through a paybill number before shifting to the ecitizen portal.

Social Health Authority (SHA) CEO Elijah Wachira noted that despite emerging challenges, over 12.5m people had been registered in two days and 9 million members transferred from NHIF to SHIF.

He termed the exercise as 85 percent successful while blaming slow registration process to the high turnout of Kenyans eager to join the new health scheme.

On her part, the Chair for the CEC health caucus Rosylene Omollo questioned the implementation and period and programme for the new scheme.

This was echoed by her Nandi counterpart Ruth Koech who said that counties were owed over Ksh.30B by the defunct NHIF and it was not clear how this would be resettled.