The Social Health Authority (SHA) has cautioned Kenyans against some health facilities, accusing them of engaging in suspicious activities aimed at defrauding the agency.
In the May 6 notice, SHA revealed that these scams were conducted through fake registrations and other misconduct, urging Kenyans to be on the lookout.
"The Social Health Authority (SHA) has received reports of suspicious activities, including fake registrations and misconduct by some health facilities," part of the notice read.
Therefore, the authority announced that it had come up with an email address where Kenyans could report any suspicious activity.
"To help stop this, we've set up a dedicated email, fraud@sha.go.ke, where you can report any suspected fraud. If you see or hear anything suspicious, please let us know," the notice read.
"We will be sharing this information on our website, via SMS, and on social media so that as many people as possible are aware. Thank you for helping us protect the public and keep our systems safe."
Although the authority was introduced with the aim of kicking out cartels that had infiltrated the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the scheme has faced several fraudulent reports of its own.
Just recently, on April 14, the Health Cabinet Secretary announced a crackdown on unqualified health practitioners and those using fraudulent means to receive funds from the national insurance scheme, as well as facilities operating unlawfully in the country.
Speaking during a press briefing, Duale stated that the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) would be highly vigilant and would not register unqualified or 'nonexistent' medical facilities and personnel in the country.
"The KMPDC cannot take pride anymore; they cannot register a facility that does not exist, and they cannot change the level of a facility. It will not be going to be business as usual," he said.
"Some of these cases are not my responsibility; some of these cases I will refer to the agency that is responsible, such as the criminal justice system."
In February this year, SHA announced another crackdown, this time on facilities issuing false claims, revealing that it had discovered some facilities were submitting claims that were not genuine.
''Regarding the old debts owed to Facilities by the defunct NHIF, whereas some of the claims are genuine, it has come to the attention of the relevant authorities that some claims were pushed through as we came close to the transition to SHA in order to create liabilities,'' a statement from SHA read in part.
"The investigative agencies are seized of the matter, and soon the wheat will be separated from the chaff and necessary action will be taken."
