Safaricom to invest Sh 34 billion in SHA transition

Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa. [File, Standard]

Safaricom has invested over Sh34 billion to facilitate the transition from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA).

Health Cabinet Secretary Debra Barasa informed the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health that Safaricom has been involved in this initiative for the last two years.

“The Safaricom Consortium is committing an initial investment of Sh34,003,483,013 over a two-year period for infrastructure, including devices, cloud and connectivity, software as a service, training, project management, as well as monitoring and evaluation,” said Barasa.

Safaricom managing the infrastructure and health information exchange components of the scheme.

CS Barasa further highlighted that, through the SHA and Digital Health Agency, the Ministry has made significant progress in the transition, registering over 13 million members.

“As of November 5, 2024, a total of 13,896,650 members have been registered, including 1,069,266 dependents who have been added as beneficiaries of their principals,” she noted.

In addition, 487,314 members have successfully completed Means Testing as part of the initiative.

However, the Ministry has faced challenges in some regions, including Tana River, Taita Taveta, Trans Nzoia, Isiolo, and Samburu, which have recorded low registration numbers.

To comply with the requirement for the registration of employees and a 2.75% deduction from gross salaries, 34,748 employers have on boarded the new scheme.

SHA has also empaneled 12,868 health facilities, contracting 7,395 providers, of which 4,810 are public facilities and 2,635 are private or faith-based.

CS Barasa noted that the Ministry has successfully deployed the SHA claims portal, rolling it out across all contracted facilities.

“As of October 16, 2024, at 10:15 a.m., a total of 6,517 health facilities have been enrolled in the system, with 10,997 claims, totaling approximately Sh164.8 million, submitted to SHA for approval,” she added.

Furthermore, 23,483 preauthorizations have been submitted, with 19,514 successfully approved, equivalent to Sh 312.2 million.

CS Barasa acknowledged initial challenges with the e-claims portal during the transition but assured that improvements are ongoing.