Director of Public Communication at State House Gerald Bitok has disclosed that payments to the Social Health Authority (SHA) are not being made through the official government paybill due to the critical nature of health funding.
In a statement on Wednesday, November 27, Bitok noted that by collecting directly into SHA's account, it ensures there are ready funds to pay service providers.
"The reason why SHA payments are not being paid through the National Government consolidated 222222 Paybill payment gateway is because of how critical health financing is.
"By collecting the members contributions directly into the Social Health Authority, it ensures there are always ready funds to pay service providers outside the often long processes of the national consolidated fund allocations," Bitok remarked.
He explained that, unlike other government agencies that rely on annual allocations, SHA has monthly offset obligations that must be addressed promptly to ensure uninterrupted service delivery.
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The State House Director of Public Communication further stated that the goal of the move is to address the funding issues inherited from the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF).
"The goal is to forestall the funding problems we are experiencing at the moment inherited from the defunct NHIF which have time and again threatened to stall healthcare service provision to Kenyans by ensuring prompt and timely healthcare financing," Bitok explained.
Meanwhile, Bitok stated that claims under SHA will be cleared before next Monday, while the authority continues to process claims owed to service providers by the defunct NHIF.
"As of yesterday alone, the government had already disbursed a total of Ksh3.7 billion as President William Ruto promised in his State of the Nation address: Ksh1.25 billion for pending NHIF claims, Ksh1.1 billion for the Linda Mama (LM) program and Ksh1.35 billion for SHA capitation payments," Bitok stated.
