In a significant step forward for Kenya’s healthcare system, officials convened in Kisumu on Thursday, October 31, to discuss the ongoing rollout of the Social Health Authority (SHA). The meeting brought together county commissioners from the Lake and Western regions, alongside County Executive Committee Members (CECMs), to evaluate the successes and challenges faced since SHA’s launch on October 1.
Principal Secretary of the State Department of Medical Services, Harry Kimtai, highlighted the encouraging registration progress.
“We have registered 13.4 million Kenyans, and the number is still going up. Yesterday alone, we saw an increase of 135,000 registrations,” Kimtai announced. He urged Kenyans to continue enrolling to access essential health services.
While praising the upward trend in registrations, Kimtai pointed out that many Kenyans are also adding their dependents to their SHA registrations. However, he emphasized the need for families to expedite this process.
“We urge them to speed up the process because when dependents are not captured, they are sometimes turned away at health facilities without receiving treatment,” he explained.
To streamline the registration process, the meeting resolved to establish county steering committees co-chaired by county commissioners and health CECs. Kimtai noted, “The community health promoters (CHPs) have been designated to assist with the registration process. They are trained and expected to help boost our enrollment numbers for SHA.”
Despite the progress, Kimtai acknowledged ongoing challenges, particularly regarding health facilities that have struggled to obtain login credentials for SHA services.
“Our service providers, together with our digital health agencies, have identified 70 technical ICT officers to support each county. Their role is to ensure facilities that lack credentials receive them promptly,” he stated.
Looking ahead, Kimtai expressed optimism about the ongoing efforts to increase registrations.
“We expect to see the numbers of Kenyans who registered under SHA go up,” he affirmed.
He thanked the CECs for health across all 47 counties, emphasizing their commitment to ensuring public facilities do not deny health services to citizens.
Additionally, members of faith-based organizations and private facility owners participated in the meeting, pledging to enroll their members in SHA provisional services. Kimtai concluded, “We will conduct a review of registration in two weeks to evaluate how many more Kenyans have registered.”
