KMPDU urges President Ruto to scrap SHA, revamp NHIF

KMPDU Deputy Secretary General Dr. Dennis Miskellah during an interview on KTN. [Screen grab]

The Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Union (KMPDU) has called on President William Ruto to abandon the Social Health Authority (SHA) and instead focus on fixing the failing National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).

Speaking during an interview on KTN on Tuesday, KMPDU Deputy Secretary General Dr. Dennis Miskellah criticized the SHA, questioning why the government had not addressed inefficiencies in NHIF before introducing the new system.

"The healthcare system is not just in crisis-it is dead. We need to rebuild from scratch. NHIF was already struggling, but SHA has completely dismantled the system," he said.

Dr. Miskellah further accused the government of mistreating junior doctors, claiming they are being pushed into depression while working under harsh conditions to save lives.

"Why should we suffer due to government inefficiency? We are now trapped in a fraudulent medical insurance scheme that does not work," he stated.

His remarks came on the same day doctors staged protests in Nairobi, demanding the government fulfill promises made in a 2017 collective bargaining agreement.

The agreement includes raising intern doctors' salaries to Sh206,000 and disbursing 50 percent of outstanding salary arrears.

The protests come in the wake of a damning audit report by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu, which revealed that the SHA is not being managed by the government but by private individuals-at a staggering cost of Sh104 billion.