Medical students and researchers will pay thousands of shillings to access health data collected under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), as the government moves to monetise the critical information.
The charges are contained in the proposed Digital Health (Health Information Management) Regulations 2024 in which individuals will pay as much as Sh30,000 to access the data on the health conditions of millions of Kenyans.
The government now says besides SHA-accredited health facilities, third parties will have access to the data. They (third parties) will, however, be required to seek approval from the Digital Health Agency— the custodians of the national bank on patient data.
All health facilities accredited by SHA will be required to store all patient data collected in the course of diagnosis and any other follow-up check in a national health data bank.
“A health data controller or a third party shall access health data in the System for public health purposes by—requesting in writing to the agency and paying the applicable fees,” reads the regulations published by Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa.
Independent medical researchers are to pay Sh30,000 while medical students pursuing master’s and doctorate degrees will part with Sh5,000 and Sh20,000, respectively.
Undergraduate students will pay Sh500. Research institutions will pay an even higher price with their access fee set at one per cent of their annual budget for research. This means an institution with a budget of Sh100 million, will pay Sh10 million to access the data.
The fees are likely to trigger concerns about their negative impact on the quality of medical research by individuals and organisations, given the increase in research costs.
The regulations meant to effect the Digital Health Act 2023 are open for public scrutiny as the State moves in to secure all legal requirements governing Universal Health Coverage.
The national health data bank—the Integrated Digital Health Information System—will hold patient data, enabling the safe and secure transfer of personal, identifiable health data and medical records to and from health facilities in Kenya and abroad.
The Health ministry said setting up uniform data standards and protocols would ensure seamless communication between different systems and improve the quality and consistency of health information.
Charging user fees for access to critical data brings to the fore the government’s aggressive revenue-raising measures even as questions linger on how the billions raised are being collected.
The government is aggressively mobilising revenues with most of the measures notably, the housing levy triggering public outcry. It remains to be seen how researchers and students in the medical field will respond to the proposal.
“Users and consumers of the shared resources in the system shall pay a service fee to use the system,” the Ministry of Health adds in an explainer on the regulations.
Last year, Kenya enacted several Acts to govern the rolling out of a new public health system that, among others makes it mandatory for all Kenyans aged above 18 to register under the SHA.
The government is seeking additional billions of shillings to ensure that all Kenyans access healthcare services via the SHA.
