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Murang’a County sues State over patient, hospital system shutdown
Murang'a Governor Irung’u Kang’ata.
Murang’a County Government has sued the Ministry of Health, Digital Health Agency and three other national government entities over the shutdown of its Afya.KE health information system, saying the loss of access threatens patient records, hospital operations and payments for treatment.
The county wants the High Court to urgently order continued access to the platform, stop interference with its operation and protect clinical data while a constitutional petition is heard. Court papers show the access was withdrawn on October 14, 2026, without a workable transition to another system.
Afya.KE has been used across county hospitals to record patient details, prescriptions, laboratory requests, clinical services, billing and claims to the Social Health Authority (SHA). Murang'a county government says the platform supports more than 176 health facilities and includes a telemedicine service used by patients who cannot easily travel to hospitals.
"The applicants operates and manages over 176 health facilities throughout Murang'a county, providing health services to over one million residents and thousands of other people from the neighboring counties of Kiambu, Nyeri, Machakos, Kirinyaga and Nyandarua among others," says County Secretary Dr Newton Mwangi in an affidavit.
He says the system has become part of the county’s health operations. It stores historical medical records and supports the submission and processing of SHA claims. The county argues that its loss has left facilities unable to retrieve information needed for treatment and administration.
Court filings show that hospitals in the county solely rely on the Health Management Information System for delivery and administration of healthcare services and its shutdown is a threat to lives of thousands of patients.
“This has resulted to total shutdown of health services as the County health facilities depend on the system for essential healthcare administration and access to patient information,” Dr Mwangi states in the affidavit.
The county says the telemedicine module supports more than 25,000 patients and has helped attend to over 500 patients across 36 facilities. These include people with diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, chronic lung disease, asthma and mental health conditions.
The affidavit says the module allows patients in remote areas to consult health personnel without travelling to a facility. The county says alternative systems cannot preserve three years of records without a verified migration plan.
The county claims the disruption has affected the submission of claims and could put revenue at risk. It says the system had helped manage claims under the SHA framework.
Earlier Governor Irungu Kang’ata said county health revenue had risen from Sh80 million to Sh800 million after Afya.KE was introduced.
The national government disputes the county’s account of who caused the loss of access. Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the Ministry of Health had not switched off Afya.KE and described it as a private arrangement between Murang’a County and the system’s developers.
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“The Ministry of Health has not switched off the Afya Ke system. The Ministry neither owns, controls, nor manages the system, nor does it have the source code,” the Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also said neither the county nor the developers had applied to the Digital Health Agency for certification, rejecting the county’s public claim that certification had been refused. It said SHA beneficiaries in Murang’a would continue accessing care through established SHA systems.
The legal dispute is unfolding as the national government moves health providers towards its Health Management Information System. The Ministry of Health has set October 30, 2026, as the deadline for transition to the new system, according to its published notice.
The county says it was not given an adequate transition that would preserve its records and keep services running.
The exhibits to court papers include letters from Murang’a health officials dated March and July 2023 concerning adoption and rollout of Afya.KE. A public notice lists its functions as drug inventory management, ward and queue monitoring, and detection of disease spikes.
Other exhibits show system-generated charts covering January 5 to October 14, 2026. One records 76,185 consultations, while others list common diagnoses, prescriptions and laboratory requests.
The respondents are the Ministry of Health, Digital Health Agency, Cabinet Secretary for Health, SHA and Attorney-General. The Council of Governors and Murang’a, Kiambu and Nairobi county governments are interested parties.
The county asks the court to preserve access and records until the dispute is determined. It says the orders are “preservatory in nature” and intended to maintain continuity of health services and safeguard patient records.
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