SHA is distancing itself from NHIF liabilities, warn rural private hospitals
According to RUPHA Chairperson Dr. Brian Lishenga, SHA's reluctance to fully acknowledge NHIF's outstanding debts has placed hospitals in limbo, despite a directive from the president that service providers be paid.
The Rural Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA) has accused the Social Health Authority (SHA) of attempting to separate itself from liabilities inherited from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), leaving healthcare service providers uncertain about payments.
According to RUPHA Chairperson Dr. Brian Lishenga, SHA's reluctance to fully acknowledge NHIF's outstanding debts has placed hospitals in limbo, despite a directive from the president that service providers be paid.
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"NHIF liabilities are not a news thing. The challenge has been the fact that SHA has tried to distance itself from NHIF liabilities," said Dr. Lishenga.
The RUPHA chairperson stated that the President has already acknowledged the liability. He further criticized the Principal Secretary for Medical Services, Harry Kimtai for asking where they have been since 2016, calling it completely uncalled for.
"As far as NHIF liabilities are concerned, the president has pronounced himself on it. He has made a commitment to pay," he said.
"This is utterly uncalled for. We want the P.S. to retract those statements."
RUPHA insists that there should have been a clear commitment to settling NHIF liabilities, rather than creating ambiguity that has left healthcare providers uncertain about when they will receive their dues.
Dr. Lishenga further emphasized the importance of a dispute resolution tribunal as outlined by the law to address financial matters.
Despite the clear legal requirements, he pointed out that, to date, the tribunal has not been established.
Furthermore, six months have passed with no action taken by the Cabinet Secretary (CS) to implement the necessary steps for the creation of this tribunal.
However, SHA Board Chairperson Dr Abdi Mohamed has denied the accusations, stating that SHA has inherited both the assets and liabilities of NHIF and remains committed to settling outstanding payments.
He revealed that nearly Sh9 billion in NHIF-related payments had already been made before October and assured that the remaining debts would be cleared.
"Just before October, we made close to nine billion payments from previous NHIF and that was done by SHA. There's nothing we are distancing ourselves from because we have inherited both the liability and assets of NHIF," said Dr. Mohamed. "We are going to pay, and that's why the president gave that direction on how to proceed."
Dr. Mohamed further explained that public finance regulations do not allow funds to be disbursed arbitrarily and that SHA is following due process to clear NHIF's debts.
He also pointed out that NHIF's financial troubles had been long predicted.
While contractual obligations allow payments within 90 days, Dr Mohamed stated that SHA has been settling payments at the end of each month to ease the financial burden on healthcare providers.
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