Diana Akoth speaks during an interview at a bus stop outside Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi on January 16, 2025.
When we meet Diana Akoth at the main entrance of Kenyatta National Hospital, she is still nursing her two-week-old baby she was carrying when she caused a scene at Afya House on Wednesday.
Despite the ruckus she and other patients caused at Kenya’s health headquarters, Ms Akoth is yet to find medical relief from the pain caused by hitches rocking the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) systems.
She had not received any help or even a call from any ministry of health official to assist her get the medical attention she needs.
Dressed in a black dress, a denim jacket and black open shoes, the mother of three narrated her ordeal since she gave birth to her third child through the caesarean section two weeks ago.
Unlike the past two pregnancies, she said, her recent one did not go as smoothly as she envisaged as she developed some complications shortly after the surgery.
Sadly, the excruciating pain tormenting her daily has not been dealt with simply because she cannot access a CT Scan at the national referral hospital for two reasons.
Diana Akoth speaks during an interview at a bus stop outside Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi on January 16, 2025.
First, the payments system run by Social Health Authority (SHA), the administrators of SHIF, has not been functioning properly and as such, her payment for the scan cannot be processed.
Secondly, the CT scan machines at KNH are not in good shape and as such, even if her payment was processed, she would still not have received assistance.
“There has been a lot of talk that we stormed the ministry of health offices because we were paid by some politicians. Nothing could be further from the truth. The only thing that made me seek an audience with the Health Cabinet Secretary is the deep pain I feel every day,” she said.
What many do not know is that Ms Akoth, alongside tens of other patients, had earlier on that day marched to the SHA offices in Nairobi to raise complaints on non-performance of the authority’s system.
However, Ms Akoth said they did not receive any help from the authority where they were directed to go seek assistance from Afya House.
“We chose three people to go represent us at the SHA offices while others waited outside. We were told that they could not access the digital system of SHA from their offices and only people at the ministry could help us,” she said.
Undaunted, the team of patients, frustrated by the inefficiency of the new health insurance system, trailed their eyes to Afya House.
Just as they had done at SHA offices, they sent a team of representatives to execute their grievances, not to any other person but the Health CS Deborah Barasa.
The plan did not go as they had envisaged, with the delegation being sent to three different floors in search of an official who could actually help them solve their crisis to no avail.
“We first went to the fifth floor, then told to go to the seventh floor before again being told to go to the sixth floor! It was frustrating! We then went to a guard and told him we were there to see the CS and we were directed to the conference room,” she said.
In retrospect, Ms Akoth believes that the fact that there was a press conference at the very time she and her team arrived at the ministry’s offices must have made their access easier because the police must have thought they too were part of the media fraternity.
At that time, the 27-year-old was hungry and tired from carrying her child, whom she jokingly said is not a lightweight.
“I was so happy because I thought we would find CS Barasa and tell her directly how SHA is frustrating us. Nevertheless, finding the media there was a plus because now the entire country knows of our pain!” she said.
Other than her own pain, Ms Akoth revealed that her father, David Ouma Owino, 67, who lives in Migori, has been unwell and despite having registered with SHA, he has not been receiving treatment due to hitches rock SHA systems.
Her father, she said, has hypertension and occasionally suffers depressive bouts that “destabilise him mentally” but cannot receive quality healthcare because the hospitals say they do not accept SHA.
With the CT scan at KNH not functional, Ms Akoth is stranded.
“I was referred to go to the German Hospital to get the scan but the hospital told me they do not accept payment via SHA,” she said.
She again decided to go to Nairobi West Hospital seeking the same treatment but was reliably informed that the hospital only accepts SHA payment for civil servants.
“I do not know what to do. I am constantly on painkillers to manage this pain. My other two children have not seen me around the past two weeks because I keep coming to Kenyatta but no help has come. Who will help Kenyans? This SHA appears to be working for a select few,” she said.
Ms Akoth loudly wondered why the government did away with “Linda Mama” which she said paid for all the maternity expenses she incurred while giving birth to her first two children.
She also added that she, alongside her second child, fell ill shortly after childbirth but Linda Mama catered for their medical expenses.
Given the chance to march to Afya House again, Ms Akoth said she would not hesitate, and should she happen to hear that President William Ruto is attending a function near her home area- Kariobangi South- she would be on the front line to tell him:
“President Ruto, this new SHA system is failing Kenyans horribly. You promised us that it would be better than NHIF (the now defunct National Health Insurance Fund) but that is not the case. Kindly help in sorting this matter,” she said.
Two days ago, Ms Akoth alongside other patients narrowly missed a chance to meet with Health Director General Patrick Amoth, SHA Chief Executive Officer Robert Isangira, the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority boss Ejersa Waqo and other senior government officials who had just finished their press briefing some 15 minutes earlier before they arrived.
During the briefing, Dr Amoth said progress has been made in improving health services under SHA.
He highlighted some benefits that patients had received — including eight kidney transplants, 8,300 dialysis sessions and management of 21,000 oncology cases.
KNH Chief Executive Evanson Kamuri said they had experienced a slight lapse in patient care but insisted that the SHA system was fully operational.
“The system downtime experienced over the last two days disrupted some services, causing delays in patient clearance and administrative processes,” he said.
