President William Ruto has announced the closure of over 1,000 health facilities implicated in a widespread scheme to defraud the government through falsified medical claims under the Social Health Authority (SHA).
Speaking at a diaspora townhall meeting in London, President Ruto said the affected facilities were involved in inflating claims by falsely converting outpatient visits into inpatient admissions or unnecessarily hospitalising patients to maximize reimbursements.
“We have shut down 1,000 fraudulent hospitals and we’re not stopping there. More will follow in the coming days. Some of these facilities are altering service categories to illegitimately claim higher payouts,” the President stated. “We are committed to cleaning up the system and ensuring the program operates with integrity.”
An internal report from the Ministry of Health, as reported by Citizen TV, revealed that some hospitals listed “ghost patients” in their records and claimed reimbursements for nonexistent admissions even when the facilities were already at full capacity. The alleged fraud has cost the government nearly Ksh.100 million.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, who has been overseeing the probe, confirmed that 35 facilities have already been closed as part of the initial wave of enforcement. SHA has also suspended services at facilities under investigation in more than 10 counties.
According to Duale’s ministry, technology is now playing a key role in exposing the fraud. “Digital tracking of patient admissions, discharges, and claims has made it significantly easier to detect anomalies and verify legitimacy,” President Ruto noted during the London forum.
Authorities have also discovered that some patients may be complicit in the scam, with reports indicating that individuals have shared personal hospital codes to inflate or falsify claims.
The government maintains that further action will be taken to protect the integrity of the SHA system, ensure accountability, and prevent exploitation of public health resources.
