Private hospitals warn of collapse over unpaid SHA debts

Social Health Authority (SHA) building located at Upper Hill in Nairobi. [Edward Kiplimo, Standard]

Kenya’s private health providers have sounded an alarm over what they term unprecedented financial distress linked to unpaid claims by the Social Health Authority (SHA), warning that the situation could cripple access to healthcare across the country.

In an internal memo to its members, the Kenya Healthcare Federation (KHF) stated that its network, which accounts for approximately 60 percent of medical care in Kenya, is on the brink of collapse due to ballooning debts inherited from the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).