NHIF Clarifies Reports That Its Database Has Been Deleted

National Health and Insurance Fund (NHIF) Offices Building in Nairobi. Monday, November 18, 2019.
National Health and Insurance Fund (NHIF) Building in Nairobi. Monday, November 18, 2019.
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

The National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) has dismissed reports that its database had been deleted.

In a statement on Sunday, September 18, NHIF denounced claims that entries made dating back to 2019 had been maliciously erased from its system, consequently denying Kenyans access to medical services.

The fund maintained that no breach was recorded in its system. 

Patients queue in order to access medical services.
Patients queue in order to access medical services.
courtesy

"NHIF would like to appeal to the public to disregard the misleading post.  We would like to categorically ensure Kenyans that the database is intact and has not been tampered with in any way," the statement read in part.

The national insurer guaranteed Kenyans that they can still access medical services from the outpatient facilities they selected, asking those who had doubts to cross-check their membership status across various platforms.

"NHIF  continues to deliver quality health insurances services including regular member access in contracted hospitals across the country, based on information captured in the database,

"Members can interrogate the database and check the history of their contributions through the available self-care platforms: *155#, 'My NHIF App',  SMS and www(dot)NHIF(dot)or(dot)ke," the state agency wrote.

The statement comes a week after the entity was forced to give an explanation after Kenyans were turned back from hospitals over system failure.

On September 11, NHIF revealed that its system went down following a power outage at its headquarters due to a faulty transformer. It added that a team had been deployed to restore all normalcy.

Meanwhile, it noted that it had reverted to the manual system to ensure that no patient was turned away or forced to pay for services. Patients were advised to present  NHIF cards as well as their national cards at facilities.

The organisation further revealed that a team had been sent out to fix the faulty transformer to restore real-time services.

"NHIF wishes to assure members that the technical team is working tirelessly to restore services to normalcy. In the meantime, the public is notified that alternative manual processes have been implemented to ensure uninterrupted services while seeking treatment in hospitals.

In addition, it addressed the concerns of its subscribers regarding the penalties levied for failing to submit their contributions ahead of the deadline - the ninth day of every month.

Among the measures taken was extending the deadline for  self-employed subscribers as well as employers to September 14. Once the remittances were made, the levies that penalties that had already been surcharged would be removed.

A photo showing National the Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) headquarters in Nairobi.
National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) headquarters in Nairobi.
Photo
NHIF
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