By Billian Fatima
Kenya's new Cabinet Secretary for Health, Aden Duale, has assured health service providers that the Social Health Authority (SHA) will settle all hospital claims by the 14th of each month, effectively addressing the issue of pending bills for health providers.
Duale, who assumed office on March 26, following a Cabinet reshuffle, made the announcement today after taking over from his predecessor, Deborah Barasa, at the Ministry of Health’s headquarters in Nairobi. He stressed that timely payments would help alleviate the financial burdens faced by health providers and ensure the smooth operation of healthcare services across the country.
“Effective today, 1st April 2025, the ICU & HDU bed rebate has been enhanced to Ksh.28,000 per day, while the oncology package for cancer patients has been increased to Ksh.550,000 per person,” said Duale, underscoring his commitment to improving healthcare services for patients and enhancing financial support for medical institutions.
In addition to addressing payment issues, Duale also revealed plans for a significant boost to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA). He announced that KEMSA would receive a Ksh.1.5 billion recapitalisation through the Supplementary Budget. Duale further pledged to negotiate a credit facility of up to Ksh.5 billion for the agency, aimed at ensuring better commodity security and improving KEMSA's order fill rate, which he said would rise to 90 per cent.
“This is part of our effort to ensure that KEMSA can guarantee commodity security across the country, promote local manufacturing, and enable bulk procurement to reduce high commodity costs,” Duale explained. He also announced that by October 1, all public health facilities in the country would be fully digitised.
Earlier this year, many public health facilities briefly suspended services under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) due to pending payments. However, the situation was resolved after President William Ruto, on March 5, assured the nation that the government would pay all facilities with pending National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) claims under Ksh.10 million.
Duale’s announcement marks the beginning of a new chapter in the country’s healthcare sector, as the new CS looks to address critical challenges while ensuring better service delivery, improved funding for health facilities, and enhanced support for vulnerable populations.
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