The Health Cabinet Secretary, Aden Duale, has revealed that some medics and health facilities across the country are sharing pre-authorisation codes to commit fraud through the Social Health Authority (SHA).
According to Duale, a doctor is under investigation after a facility claimed that he was conducting ten surgeries a day, and yet, after interrogation, he claimed that he had never set foot in that facility, which was 600 kilometres away from where he was originally working.
"You know I speak very straight, so I am giving you notice. I have a case where a facility and the doctor who has given his pre-authorisation code are 600 kilometres apart, and that facility is claiming that the doctor has conducted more than 10 surgeries," he stated.
"When this doctor was conducting him, he said that he had never been in this facility, and when he was asked how his preauthorization code was shared, that is where he started wondering what was going on," he stated.
Duale, who spoke during a press briefing in Mombasa on Saturday, May 10, affirmed that the ministry, in collaboration with the relevant authorities, will weed out and take the necessary action against medics using this technique.
Duale revealed this during the 9th Annual Delegates Conference (ADC) of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU).
The CS stressed the need for high-level integrity among medics in the country to ensure that the country's medical scheme is a success in a bid to propel the country towards the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goal.
On the other hand, the CS stated that SHA contributions from civil servants, both at the national and at the county level, might start being deducted at the primary level. According to Duale, this move will be fundamental in ensuring that healthcare workers in the country receive quality healthcare through the country's health scheme.
"I will endorse one of the governors' from the COG proposal that the SHA contribution for not only healthcare workers but for all civil servants, both at the national and at the county level, be deducted at source," he stated
"When I came to the ministry, I couldn't understand how the government wanted the UHC to be successful while its own public servants and healthcare workers were blocked out of SHA because when you went to the hospital, the medics there are the first ones to say that SHA is not working," he added.
According to Duale, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi will initiate the deductions, which he termed as a very 'progressive solution, once the council of Governors, the Cabinet, and President William Ruto give a nod.
"It is unconscionable that those who deliver care cannot themselves access quality care. I am working closely with the SHA, Digital Health Agency, Council of Governors, Ministry of Public Service, and the National Treasury to resolve these issues decisively. We must care for our careers," he stated.
In the recent past, medics in the country have recurrently complained of being blocked out from SHA, with some threatening to go on strike if the ministry and county governments don't take action.
Kiambu, Kakamega, Marsabit, Nakuru, Kajiado, and Laikipia are among the counties that have sent out notices of strike, citing additional issues like doctor employment and pay delays.
Speaking during the same meeting, the KMPDU Secretary General, Davji Atellah, urged Duale to intervene to ensure that the grievances of the medics in these counties are addressed so as to ensure that medical strikes in the country come to an end.
"We have a strike in Kiambu, Kakamega and Marsabit, and we call for your intervention to ensure that these strikes come to an end, because when the healthcare of a country is at risk, we will not look at any governor; it will rise squarely on your desk as the CS," he stated.
