Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has sounded a stern warning to private hospitals allegedly manipulating admission records to fraudulently access funds from the Social Health Authority (SHA).

While addressing residents in Voi, Taita Taveta County, Duale disclosed that some health facilities were falsely claiming to conduct surgeries that never took place, in a bid to secure SHA reimbursements.

“There’s a hospital that claims to carry out more surgeries than Kenyatta National Hospital, yet it only has two theatres compared to KNH’s 25. That kind of dishonesty is unacceptable,” said Duale. “That facility has been shut down. The owner, who is a Member of Parliament, even approached the president but we’ve made it clear: the era of looting public health funds is over.”

He revealed that so far, 24.4 million Kenyans have registered under the SHA program, with Taita Taveta County accounting for 159,000 of those enrollees. He further noted that Ksh.165 million had already been released to support health services in the county under the new scheme.

In a renewed push to ensure accountability, the health CS encouraged the public to report any fraudulent or suspicious activity involving SHA via the toll-free number *147#.

“This system is for the people. Let’s protect it,” he urged.