The Ministry of Health has revealed that 215 workers under the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) program have been removed from the payroll following a comprehensive staff verification exercise.
In a statement released on Monday, August 25, Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale announced that these employees failed to meet the required qualifications and that their salaries would be discontinued effective immediately.
According to the press release signed by CS Duale, the decision follows a recently concluded joint headcount exercise undertaken by the State Department for Medical Services in collaboration with the Council of Governors.
The verification process covered all 7,629 UHC staff members, revealing significant irregularities in the employment records.
"Out of the 7,629 staff verified, 215 did not present themselves, having been identified as either non-existent ghost workers or not qualified health professionals," the statement read.
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The Ministry has announced that the remaining 7,414 verified staff members will be reorganized into two distinct categories: those currently providing active medical services and those facing pending disciplinary issues.
Workers in active service will undergo formal transition and absorption into the system starting September 2025.
"UHC Staff members absent from duty or having disciplinary issues will not be absorbed. Such cases will be reviewed in consultation with the Public Service Commission (PSC), in line with PSC Regulations 2020 on Human Resource, which provides for separation, removal from the payroll, and other disciplinary measures,” Duale noted.
This restructuring comes as the government intensifies its commitment to achieving Universal Health Coverage under the Kenya Kwanza administration.
Cs Duale revealed at the beginning of August that the government planned to crack down on ghost workers, who were rampant among staff under the UHC programme.
“UHC staff, I have the money through parliament to make you permanent and pensionable. But don’t rush me. I’m doing vetting and verification,” Duale stated. “So far, the number that we are seeing and the number of people who were being paid, there are thousands of ghost workers.”
The government introduced several legislative frameworks, including the Digital Health Act 2023, Social Health Insurance Act 2023, and Primary Health Care Act, to strengthen the healthcare system and eliminate inefficiencies like those revealed in the recent staff audits.
