“This Is Criminal!” – Duale Bursts Out After Call By UDA Senator Live On TV Over SHA
Moments of high drama unfolded on live television as Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei called Health CS Aden Duale to respond to questions on the Social Health Authority (SHA).
This happened during a heated debate with Nyamira Senator Okong’o Omogeni on Wednesday.
The debate, hosted by Debarl Inea on TV47, turned tense when Omogeni claimed that SHA had failed to honor agreements with private health facilities.
The Senator claimed that many had shunned the program due to delayed payments.
“Let me call Waziri Duale so that we know the truth,” Cherargei said as the host agreed.
On speakerphone, Cherargei addressed Duale live: “Hello Waziri, I’m on air with Senator Okong’o Omogeni. He alleges that private facilities have rejected SHA.”
Duale strongly refuted the claims, highlighting that the SHA has contracts with 9,426 health facilities across the country, including faith-based, public, and private institutions.
“The majority—about 67 per cent—are private facilities, from level 2 to level 6, including Agha Khan, Nairobi West, and the Nairobi Hospital,” he said.
He stated that no facility, including private hospitals, can survive without SHA.
“If any contracted facility denies services to Kenyans, we will not only terminate their SHA contract but also report them to the regulator to revoke their license. This is criminal,” Duale added.
According to Duale, the SHA recently paid Sh11 billion, most of which went to private facilities.
He also revealed that 1,300 facilities were closed due to fraud, with the highest cases in Mandera, Wajir, Kisii, Homa Bay, Nairobi, and Kisumu counties.
“We have flagged 1,105 Kenyans with multiple beneficiaries in the system,” he noted.
“We have flagged women who have submitted over 120 husbands and over 85 men who submitted that they have wives between 26 and 72. The system can only allow you four spouses.”
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Omogeni challenged the CS on the benefits available to patients, citing cases where public hospitals in Nyamira could not offer specific services, forcing residents to use private hospitals.
Duale responded that SHA covers inpatient and outpatient services, including specialised care such as dialysis (three sessions per week), but no insurance system pays 100 per cent of all costs.
Omogeni sought to know why SHA is only paying a percentage of the bills incurred by poor Kenyans and not the entire amount.
He cited a case in Nyamira where a patient could not get services at the Nyamira County Referral Hospital.
The CS explained that no insurance countrywide pays 100 per cent of the bills. He said that the health system in Nyamira has collapsed.
“This Is Criminal!” – Duale Bursts Out After Call By UDA Senator Live On TV Over SHA
