Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale is under fire from the Rural & Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA) after the lobby accused him of failing to give a detailed breakdown of how the Social Health Authority (SHA) handled a KSh32 billion payout owed to private hospitals.
RUPHA’s sharp response followed a heated exchange on Friday between the CS and a Nation Media Group journalist during a press briefing. The reporter sought clarity on claims that private hospitals had not received funds despite SHA’s disbursement.
Instead of addressing the question, CS Duale dismissed the matter, insisting the Ministry had not received any such complaint.
“We do not have that letter. The person who wrote that letter has not told us; he has given it to you. So what we want to ask you is, if that person has indeed written it, let him go to the CEO’s office, and we will handle it. We don’t conduct our internal communication through a press conference,” the CS said.
When pressed further, Duale turned his attention on the media house itself.
“You are bringing patients to your media house. Please turn the Nation Media into a health centre. We will register you. We will give you a SHA portal. And we will deal with your claims,” he quipped.
In a strongly worded statement, RUPHA accused the CS of deflecting from the real issue—SHA’s struggling financial model—and scapegoating the private health sector and the press.
“The CS Health has resorted to attacks on the private health sector and the media as the scapegoats for the flawed SHA model. SHA collected just KSh56B in the 9 months to July compared to NHIF’s KSh65B for the same period in 2021/22,” the statement read.
The association revealed that despite higher premiums, SHA’s Proxy Means Testing system had failed, with the scheme incurring claims worth KSh89 billion in the same period—leaving it in the red by KSh32 billion.
RUPHA further accused the Ministry of branding any facility that demanded payment as “fraudsters, cartels, or NHIF graft beneficiaries” rather than addressing delayed remittances.
“In panic, they have decided to attack everyone, instead of addressing the mistakes in the model. The truth is that SHA is financially unsustainable,” the statement concluded.
The fiery exchange has reignited debate over the management of SHA funds, with growing calls for transparency and reform to avert a looming health financing crisis.
