President William Ruto has announced that the Social Health Authority (SHA) will this week pay hospitals KSh13 billion for services provided in March 2026. The finances will be from the Primary Health Care Fund, Social Health Insurance Fund, Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illnesses Fund.
He said transformation of universal healthcare is real and major progress is being made.
“The money we are paying under SHA in one month is equivalent to the sum that used to be collected in six months under the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF),” he said. “This is the difference we are making.”
President Ruto said his administration has been intentional and deliberate from the beginning in the effort to re-organise the health sector.
“Universal Health Coverage was discussed during the Narc administration. We talked about it in the Jubilee administration, which I was part of,” the President said, noting that those efforts were not successful. “But three years after we came into office, universal healthcare is becoming a reality.”
The President explained that SHA is not only making health easily accessible to all Kenyans, but the new dispensation has also dealt a blow to those who were used to manipulating the inefficiencies that ailed NHIF.
“SHA has been paying bills promptly. You don’t have to make any telephone calls for your bills to be paid,” President Ruto said. “We have digitised health processes, eliminating manual paperwork.”
Africa Gospel Church, the President noted, is a great partner in the transformation of healthcare through its health and education departments.
“I want to thank the church for helping us in our objective to make health accessible to all, a right stipulated in Article 43 of the Constitution,” he said.
He urged the public to ignore outspoken naysayers, saying some were beneficiaries of the rot that plagued the defunct NHIF.
“The naysayers criticise us because they have lost due to the reforms we have instituted. Some facilities were doing more billing than treating patients under the previous system,” President Ruto said.
On rising fuel prices, the President explained they are higher than the in the region because Kenya the biggest road network of 20,000km of roads to maintain, bigger than all the other East African Community countries combined.
Kenya, he pointed out, is also building an extra 6,000km, equivalent to the road network of some countries in the region.
President Ruto went on to say that Kenya is a middle-income economy while neighbouring countries are in the least developed category.
“If you want to compare fuel prices in Kenya with other countries, look at middle income countries. You will realize prices in other middle-income countries are higher than ours,” he said
The President pointed out that Kenya is setting its standards higher by planning to build an additional 28,000km of roads in the next seven years as the country aspires to move to a first-world economy.
He reminded Kenyans that the government has reduced VAT from 16 per cent to 18 per cent to cushion Kenyans from the impact of the crisis in Middle East.
“We will continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East and take necessary action,” he said and thanked the national assembly for passing the VAT bill in a record time.
The President said under his administration, no part of country will be left behind in national development transformed. He cited the projects in Banisa Constituency, Mandera County, where he visited on Saturday.
“Yesterday, I was in Banisa, 1,090km from Nairobi, where we are building a modern market,” he said. “The residents of Banisa never imagined this would happen. It was a forgotten place,” President Ruto said.
Senate Majority Leader Araon Cheruiyot said SHA has been a big boost to hospitals as bills are paid expeditiously. Before SHA, he said, many hospitals, including Tenwek Hospital in Bomet County, were struggling financially over delayed payment by NHIF.
Before SHA, Mr Cheruiyot, who is also the Senator of Kericho , said the hospital was grinding to a halt, noting that the turnaround in the facility’s fortunes is a testament that the effectiveness of SHA.
“Tenwek is doing well now and has opened a clinic in Nairobi,” he said.
National Assembly Majority Leader Kimani Ichung’wa commended the President for his resolve to change the lives of Kenyans.
“The vision you have set for this country goes beyond you. What you are doing will be felt for many years,” Mr Ichung’wa noted, and castigated those who were threatening to foment chaos over the rise in fuel prices.
High fuel prices, the Kikuyu legislator said, is a global problem.
“I was in London and the price of diesel is £2 (KSh350) while super petrol is £1.75, the equivalent of which is about KSh306,” Mr Ichung’wa said.
The current global situation and the jump in fuel prices cannot be addressed through street protests, he said.
“How will protests bring down prices of fuel?” he asked, adding that the Government-to-Government deal between Kenya and oil marketing companies in the Gulf has been instrumental in mitigating the effects of rising fuel prices.
Meanwhile, President William Ruto has said the regeneration of Nairobi has kicked off with projects on lighting, road construction and garbage collection beginning to take shape.
To make the capital city more motorable, President Ruto announced that 250km of roads are being built and upgraded in all parts of Nairobi, including the informal settlements. Already, 67km are under construction while works on another 70km will start soon.
“We are also putting up 40,000 lights on roads and in estates. This is a 24-hour economy city and we have to implement this important infrastructure,” he said.
The President also announced that garbage collection in the city has gone a notch higher with 40 new trucks deployed last week for the clean-up.
He was speaking at the African Gospel Church (AGC) in Karen, Nairobi, during a Sunday service and opening of the church’s head office, AGC Tenwek Hospital Nairobi Clinic, and the Karen AGC Sanctuary.
