SHA pulls down payment list from website as saga deepens

 Social Health Authority CEO Mercy Mwangangi during a press briefing at Afya House, Nairobi, on August 25, 2025. [Kanyiri Wahito, Standard]

The Social Health Authority (SHA) has pulled down from its website a list detailing payments of claims to hospitals.

On Monday evening, the Kenya Master Health Facility Registry (KMHFR) was also disabled, making it difficult for the public to verify hospital details and track payments.

The move comes amid growing uproar and scrutiny over irregular disbursements, including payments made to ghost facilities.

Some hospitals flagged in the scheme, meant to replace the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) were found to be in deplorable condition.

For instance, some facilities classified as Level 4 lack a single inpatient bed, while others operate from a single room resembling a kiosk.

The KMHFR contains critical data on all health facilities, including their geographical location, bed capacities, and regulatory bodies.

“It is a public site, and by pulling it down, the ministry is going against the right to access information. It also shows a ministry that has no control over its own data,” said Dr Brian Lishenga, chairperson of the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA).

RUPHA has threatened to protest the move and take legal action, accusing the ministry of attempting to cover up corruption and exposing its inefficiencies.

“The site revealed that the ministry had no control over its regulators, such as the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC).

Pulling it down means the ministry has lost confidence in its own regulatory bodies,” Lishenga added.

The association further questioned how Kenyans would now be able to know where facilities are located.

“They are embarrassed, yet this is the same platform the ministry uses to contract facilities,” Lishenga observed.