Collins Otieno feels frustrated and helpless as the Social Health Authority (SHA) officially launches a new public health scheme on October 1. He has already encountered problems with the system, in particular an incorrect entry in his portal that has left him scratching his head.
Like any law-abiding Kenyan, Collins registered with the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) five days before the roll-out, hoping to avoid any last-minute rush. He did not want to be caught off guard when the new health system kicks in.
From October 1, Kenyans will have to pay 2.75 per cent of their income into the SHIF, which promises universal healthcare coverage. The new health scheme replaces the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and aims to ease the burden of medical bills through a significant increase in monthly contributions.
The new system will manage three key funds—Primary Healthcare, Social Health Insurance (SHIF), and the Emergency, Chronic, and Critical Illness Fund.
For Collins, however, things are already going sideways.
“I created my SHA account a week ago. I didn’t add any dependents, only to log in a few days later and find an 11-year-old daughter added,” he told Nation.Africa.
“In 2013, when this ‘daughter’ was apparently born, I was a third-year university student trying to keep up with my classes. Siring a child was the last thing on my mind,” he added, “When I set up the account, I selected ‘married’ but didn’t add any dependents. Two days later, I realised this strange entry. I tried to update it, but there was no option to delete.”
As an IT support technician, Collins knows his way around systems, but even he feels stuck with this glitch. “Our HR suggested I cross-check my NHIF portal, and there were no dependents there. The new system is messed up even before it’s fully rolled out,” he lamented.
By Monday, Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa confirmed that at least 2.16 million Kenyans had already registered with SHA ahead of its official launch. But, like Collins, many are reporting incorrect entries in their accounts, and there seems to be little they can do about it.
For some, this isn’t their first experience with such issues. Abiya Ochola, for instance, shared a similar story from his time with NHIF:
“This happened to me with NHIF. When I got married, I decided to update my account, only to discover I had a wife and three children I didn’t know about! I had to involve a lawyer to get that mess sorted out.”
Another social media user said, “My NHIF has an unknown dependent called Mary. No wonder NHIF never issues statements—if they did, we’d see all the scams they’ve been pulling in our names and through fake hospitals.”
And then there’s Virginia, who discovered, after registering for SHA, that she had teenage twins. But in reality, her last-born child is about to turn 30.
“After registering, I found out I had 14-year-old twins,” she said, clearly perplexed. “But my youngest turns 30 in a few days!”
For Ms Margaret Kagiri, the issue is that not all her dependents are showing up in the system.
“I thought I was the only one who had issues,” shared Margaret. “My NHIF had two dependants. [But] on registering for SHA only one of my kids was available as a dependant. I unsuccessfully tried to add the other. I tried logging in the following day and got a response that the details could not be found.”
As SHA takes over NHIF’s assets and liabilities during this transition, Chairperson Dr Abdi Mohamed reassured the public that NHIF staff will be prioritised. But it’s not just about inheriting the workforce—it’s also about inheriting the system’s long-standing issues, like faulty data and the very environment NHIF operated in: ill-equipped hospitals, overworked doctors and nurses, and now, inaccurate health records.
Collins can’t help but wonder aloud: “Why didn’t they just fix NHIF? I feel like they could have cleaned it up and made it something everyone could actually use.”
At the time of publishing, Acting SHA CEO Elijah Wachira had yet to respond to Nation's questions or comment on the matter.
