The Cabinet Secretary (CS) for Health Aden Duale has dismissed a report carried by the Daily Nation on 4th August 2026 concerning the service fee levied on claims processed through the national digital health system, which creates the impression that public money is being paid to a private company outside the law, as false and malicious.
Duale stressed that digitisation is the bedrock of Universal Health Coverage insisting that the government cannot register, verify and pay for the healthcare of every Kenyan on paper.
Citing Section 47 of the Social Health Insurance (SHA) Act, which requires that every process under the Act- member identification, pre-authorisation, claims management and the settlement of claims- be digitized on a secure, interoperable and verifiable information system.
CS Duale maintained that the administration has undertaken what no government before it attempted by placing the entire health financing system of the country on a single, verifiable digital platform.
“Such a system must be built, secured, run and maintained, and the law provides for how it is paid for,” he affirmed in a press statement.
Further, Duale elaborated that the service fee is not a discretionary charge saying Regulation 11(2) of the Digital Health (Data Exchange Component) Regulations, 2025 requires users and consumers of the shared resources in the system to pay the service fee specified in the Third Schedule.
He added that Paragraph 2 of the Schedule prescribes the fee for the Health Information Management Service (HIMS) at two percent of the service offered through HIMS, and expressly provides that the amount charged shall not exceed Sh5,000.
“It is therefore a capped fee for the use of a system. It is not an open-ended share of any hospital’s earnings,” affirmed the CS.
Additionally, Duale explained that the fee is payable to the Digital Health Agency, a State Agency established under Section 5 of the Digital Health Act, 2023, for the use of the Comprehensive Integrated Health Information System established under Section 15 of that Act.
He also mentioned that Section 48(1)(c) of the same Act expressly provides that the funds of the Agency shall include levy fees for services rendered by it.
“This is a charge by a public body, for a public system, authorised by statute,” Duale emphasised.
Importantly, the CS reiterated that no private entity receives, holds, controls or disburses funds due to healthcare providers highlighting Sections 5(e), 35 and 36 of the SHA Act, 2023 which grants SHA sole powers to review, process and pay claims to contracted providers out of the Funds established under the Act, a responsibility he maintains has not been delegated to any private party.
Equally, Duale noted that every shilling received by the Digital Health Agency is accounted for as public money as he reported that under Sections 51 and 52 of the Digital Health Act, 2023, the accounts of the Agency are audited and reported upon in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act, Cap 412A and the Public Audit Act, Cap. 412B, and its financial statements tabled in the National Assembly following the report of the Auditor General.
“There is no parallel account and no hidden ledger. There is the ordinary constitutional process of public audit, and it applies here exactly as it applies to every other state agency,” stated the CS.
In addition, he explained that the System is delivered under a Government contract with the Safaricom Consortium, procured in accordance with the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, Cap. 412C which permits subcontracting.
The engagement of a subcontractor by a contracted party, he continued, is a lawful commercial arrangement and does not make the former a recipient of public funds outside the law and also gives it no role whatsoever in paying hospitals.
The CS assured that all these regulations contain no hidden agenda as they were subjected to a regulatory impact assessment, public participation and stakeholder consultation, approved by both Houses of Parliament in accordance with the Constitution and the Statutory Instruments Act, Cap. 2A and published in the Kenya Gazette on 11th April 2025 for Kenyans to access freely.
Duale said the matter at hand is currently before the High Court adding that with the CS named as a respondent, the Government will file full response on the record promising to abide by the determination of the court and not further litigating the matter in the press.
“To our healthcare providers, my door is not closed. I have directed the Social Health Authority and Digital Health Agency to continue engaging you directly through the stakeholder mechanism and to resolve claims complaints without delay and where the system can be improved, it will be improved. Let me be clear, every shilling under Taifa Care belongs to the Kenyan patient,” he reassured.
By Michael Omondi
