President William Ruto has claimed that the government has closed over 1,000 health facilities in the country in an ongoing crackdown.
In a statement after engaging with Kenyans living in the United Kingdom on Thursday, July 3, President Ruto said that these facilities were closed in a crackdown targeting institutions perpetrating fraud in the administration of the Social Health Authority (SHA).
Ruto further claimed that more institutions would be closed in similar crackdowns to ensure that the Kenyan health sector remains uncorrupted.
"The criminal elements that are staining SHA will not succeed. We have tracked and closed over 1,000 medical facilities engaging in fraud," part of the statement read.
"More are on the way. Our health programme must remain efficient and incorruptible," he added.
He further claimed that the barely one-year-old SHA has done much more than the outlawed National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) would have done.
Reportedly, the medical scheme has served more than 4.9 million Kenyans since its inception in October 2024.
Our Social Health Authority is working. In eight months, the transformative medical scheme has served more than 4.9 million people, way above what NHIF would have managed.
This comes days after the Health Cabinet Secretary announced that 35 private health facilities were also closed over alleged irregularities in the administration of the SHA.
Speaking at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu on June 30, Duale said the crackdown was part of a broader effort to rein in unscrupulous health providers exploiting SHA for personal gain.
He further claimed that the hospitals had presented fake documents to secure SHA accreditation, while others billed outpatient services under inpatient claims to inflate reimbursements.
The CS further promised that the crackdown would continue until all fraudulent facilities and doctors were weeded out to safeguard transparency in the implementation of SHA.
