Health CS Deborah BarasaHealth Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa has assured Kenyans that technical issues bedeviling the Social Health Authority (SHA) will be resolved soon.
She maintained that Taifa Care will be implemented countrywide and assured that people will begin to enjoy its benefits sooner rather than later.
“So far, more than 500,000 Kenyans have benefited since we rolled out the new health scheme,” she said.
Barasa further noted that the government has been able to pay healthcare facilities that provided the health services.
“Yes, we have had a few challenges some of them being system interruptions. Even when you looks at other countries, system interruptions is common. But let us see where we are coming from as Kenya. Very few people had NHIF. We now we have more than 18 million Kenyans covered, almost three times the number who had NHIF,” she explained.
The CS said the government intends to have all Kenyans registered with SHA.
She assured that the problem of system interruptions will be addressed expeditiously.
“We have the server that came in on Friday, and technicians are now working to ensure it is working efficiently. Bear with us, but ultimately, if each and every Kenyan can be able to access services, it will be a game changer,” she said.
She said the government wants all Kenyans registered with SHA and then address concerns such as waiting time and system challenges.
“For now, accessibility, affordability and quality is really critical. We are going round in every county and identifying the challenges that are escalated up,” she said.
Kenyans have been raising concerns over SHA, launched in October 2024.
The National Assembly has since directed Health Committee Chairperson Robert Pukose to seek responses from the ministry on the SHA inefficiencies.
Last Thursday, MPs put Medical Services Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai and Social Health Authority (SHA) Board Chairman Abdi Mohamed on the spot over implementation of the new health scheme.
Key among the concerns were poor service delivery, poor communication, inadequate funding, unclear implementation frameworks, and the already-strained relationship between citizens and the healthcare system.
