Thousands blocked from SHA over ID and SIM card mismatches
Medical Services Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga said the problem is hitting young people and low-income earners hardest, as many of them use SIM cards registered under the names of their parents or relatives.
Thousands of Kenyans are being denied access to Social Health Authority (SHA) services because of mismatches between their national identity cards and mobile phone registrations, a senior Health ministry official has revealed.
Medical Services Principal Secretary Ouma Oluga said the problem is hitting young people and low-income earners hardest, as many of them use SIM cards registered under the names of their parents or relatives, leaving them locked out of SHA’s system.
“We receive an average of 6,000 calls at the SHA call centre every day. Over 2,000 of those are from people whose ID and SIM card details do not match. The system automatically rejects their applications,” Oluga said during a stakeholder forum at the Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital in Mombasa.
He added that many households remain completely outside the SHA programme due to lack of identity cards.
“We have entire households, especially in informal settlements and rural areas, where no one has a valid ID. Without it, they simply cannot enrol,” said Dr Oluga.
The PS appealed to chiefs and community health promoters (CHPs) to help identify and support undocumented residents, particularly vulnerable groups such as street children and the elderly.
At the same forum, community health promoter George Otieno raised questions about the fairness of SHA premiums, saying low-income families are being asked to contribute the same amount as those in wealthier areas.
“We’ve documented cases where residents of informal settlements are asked to pay the same amount as those living in gated communities. This blanket approach is turning people away,” said Otieno.
He also pointed out flaws in the SHA digital platform, where dependants, especially children, often fail to appear in the system when families seek treatment.
“We’ve had parents turned away at hospitals because their children, though registered, aren’t reflected in the SHA database. It is a technical failure with real-life consequences,” he said.
Teenage mothers have also been among the most affected by the rigid documentation requirements, as many lack IDs or birth certificates.
“We see girls as young as 14 come in with no form of ID. We sometimes issue temporary cards or register them under their parents, but that only solves part of the problem,” said a maternity ward nurse who requested not to be named.
