Going by Business Registration Service records, Filyne Chima Hospital Ltd did not exist on February 15.
Yet on the same day, as per the Ministry of Health master health facility register, the company filed an application seeking to be registered as a 168-bed hospital.
Within 48 hours of that application, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) – the state agency tasked with licensing hospitals – had allowed Filyne Chima Hospital Ltd, which did not exist on paper, to offer services.
On March 17, a month after it was licensed to operate. Filyne Chima Hospital Ltd was officially incorporated.
Mr Filmre John Okeiga was listed as the sole owner of the 1,000 shares. Mr Okeiga and Ms Whitney Gesare Okeiga were listed as directors.
The master health facility register, however, indicates that Filyne Chima Hospital was established on October 15, 2024 – five months before the company was actually registered.
Between May 16 and June 16, 2025 Filyne Chima Hospital received Sh12.2 million from the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) as payment for patients it claimed to have treated.
Filyne Chima is now one of 45 hospitals a multi-agency team is investigating over irregular payments from SHIF, totalling to Sh558.7 million.
Mr Okeiga has been flagged in relation to Filyne Chima and two other hospitals he owns – Westlife and Eastlife.
Business Registration Service records show that Filyne Chima Hospital operates from Westlife Building.
However, KMPDC records in the ministry’s facility register show the hospital is in Mariba market, opposite an unnamed petrol station. An intelligence report handed to the multi-agency team indicates that Filyne Chima’s bank accounts only received money from SHIF.
Investigators translate this to mean that none of the patients Filyne Chima claims to have seen paid for treatment through other medical insurance plans or in cash, which they believe is an anomaly.
Mr Okeiga did not respond to queries by the Daily Nation on the registration anomalies the investigation has flagged around his hospitals, despite promising to call back after attending a burial.
Eastlife Hospital declared a building in Ruiru, Kiambu County, as its location during incorporation.
When the KMPDC licensed it to operate a 76-bed hospital on June 20, 2023, the physical location was declared as an isolated plot in Kiango market, Kisii County.
When Westlife Hospital Ltd was incorporated on August 11, 2023, it declared its physical address as Eastlife Building on Thika road.
In its KMPDC application of December 11, 2024 seeking to operate a 200-bed hospital, Westlife declared its physical address as an isolated plot near Nyabitunwa police post in Kisii County.
KMPDC Chief Executive David Kariuki said the agency is conducting an internal investigation into the licensing of some hospitals following concerns that there could have been irregularities in issuing permits.
“We are investigating. We keep checking and if any irregularities are found, action is taken. We must now have to get to complete investigations because some of these things may involve us. It may also involve other agencies to be able to get the final conclusive response,” Dr Kariuki said.
The multi-agency team has found a trend with most of the 45 hospitals in the latest group to be investigated.
They only received money from SHIF, indicating an improbable scenario where no patient was paying for services through private insurance schemes or in cash.
Dr Caleb Marwa, the director of Bwana ni Mwema Medical Centre and Sayayi Hospital – both in Migori County – rejected the findings of the team.
Investigators analysed bank accounts of the 45 hospitals and found that some like Bwana ni Mwema, Sayayi Hospital and Tulatula Nursing Home in Wajir County only had money coming in from the SHIF.
The trend, investigators say in their report, indicates that the money received by the hospitals was being used to pay for utilities like electricity or salaries.
“What is wrong with that? What’s wrong with receiving Sh50 million? Where did you want that money to be sent to? Go and do your research well,” Dr Marwa told the Daily Nation.
“Who told you the electricity bill is not paid? Who told you salary is not paid? I’m the director and the hospital. Where there is a hospital, there are patients and services are offered. Where did the money go? That’s not your problem. Our business is clean.”
Tulatula Nursing Home received Sh4.9 million from the SHIF. A Tulatula Nursing Home director who declined to provide his name said queries on the flagged financial flows “are none of your business,” and threatened to report our team to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for seeking clarity on report findings.
Still in Wajir County, investigators flagged a hospital whose owners could have forged a certificate of incorporation as part of tax evasion.
In Mandera, the multi-agency team flagged Eagle View Medical Services, Gallant Hospital and Dherkale Medical and Diagnostic Centre. KMPDC and ministry records indicate the three are in the same building.
But Mr Adankulla Ahmed Hassan, a director at the three hospitals, said they are in different parts of the county.
He said Dherkale Medical and Diagnostic Centre is in Banisa constituency, while Eagle View Medical Services and Gallant Hospital are in Mandera North constituency.
SHA Chief Executive Officer Dr Mercy Mwangangi.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
“We have recorded statements with the DCI and submitted documents from patient files, hospital records and the payroll. The DCI is on the ground in Mandera. Hospitali imefungwa (the hospital is closed). Once you are flagged, your hospital is shut. We also want the investigation to be speeded up in order to resume services,” Mr Hassan said.
KMPDC said there is a procedure of moving locations, which involves informing the relevant authorities.
“When we register the first time, people are at the places they mention. But we know that people move, and there is a procedure for informing us that they have moved, which includes the county government health departments,” Dr Kariuki said.
“It the county authorities who go to confirm the new location. From there, we approve and amend our records. They are supposed to inform us any time they move. Those who don’t do so are operating against the set standards.”
Dr Kariuki added that the KMPDC’s mandate does not involve digging into the occupation of hospital owners during licensing to establish if there is a conflict of interest.
“KMPDC registers health facilities as businesses. It does not go into what the directors do. You know, like, the way we don’t ask the Aga Khan whether he works elsewhere, for example. As an owner of a hospital, we don’t ask. We only confirm that the business is registered,” Dr Kariuki said.
He was responding to queries put to the KMPDC by the Daily Nation on instances of potential conflict of interest also flagged by the multi-agency team.
On the Nyamira County side of Chepilat town, the team is investigating Summit Medicare Chepilat Ltd, which received Sh12.3 million from SHIF.
Ms Stella Moraa Misati, a laboratory technician employed by the Ministry of Health, has 500 shares in the hospital.
Her husband and founder of the hospital, Shem Omwoyo Onduso, owns the other half.
Contacted, Dr Onduso maintained there is no conflict of interest on his wife’s part as she is deployed to another county.
While he declined to disclose the name of the county, Dr Onduso said she has never missed a day of work and that her appraisals are clean.
“Everyone wants to have an additional income since salary is not enough,” Dr Onduso said.
