Hello

Your subscription is almost coming to an end. Don’t miss out on the great content on Nation.Africa

Ready to continue your informative journey with us?

Hello

Your premium access has ended, but the best of Nation.Africa is still within reach. Renew now to unlock exclusive stories and in-depth features.

Reclaim your full access. Click below to renew.

Subscribe for a month to get full access

Former NHIF workers facing gloomy future

NHIF Building

The offices of the now defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund in Nairobi.

Photo credit: File I Nation Media Group

As Kenya’s healthcare system lurches toward the promise of universal coverage, a quieter tragedy unfolds in the corridors of bureaucracy.

The transition from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA) was meant to herald a new era of efficiency and equity. Yet, for over 1,700 former NHIF employees, it’s a slow descent into uncertainty, with only 815 slated for absorption. The rest hover like ghosts, awaiting redeployment or early retirement.

These workers, many of whom toiled for decades under NHIF’s creaking framework, were promised a seamless shift. Instead, they face a stark reality—SHA, leaner and meaner, has no room for them all.

Also Read

The Public Service Commission’s cap of 815 jobs feels less like a lifeline and more like a guillotine, severing livelihoods with surgical precision. For those left out, redeployment sounds noble until you consider the chaos of uprooted lives or the indignity of forced retirement.

The irony bites deep. A reform billed as compassionate leaves its own architects in the dust, their expertise discarded like outdated files. Meanwhile, SHA stumbles, claims pile up, patients wait and a workforce shortage looms. Could these sidelined veterans not bolster a fledgling system?

The government’s silence speaks volumes, drowned out by the clamour of its grand healthcare vision. As SHA rises, it casts a shadow over those who built NHIF, however flawed it was. Progress that forgets its people is no progress at all. Kenya must do better.

Johannes N Wanyama

SHA has made Kenyans raise more questions than answers about its operations. Despite the promise of affordable, accessible and quality healthcare , Kenyans are now asking where their money goes to. They believe that the money is not being used for the provision of healthcare services but is being put to personal use.

Registration is still a challenge, and many vulnerable people and those in remote areas are being left out. The government should have just made changes to NHIF rather than introduce SHA.

Millicent Keya, Kisumu