Editor's Review

The Ministry of Health has dismissed claims that it has switched off Murang’a County’s Afya Ke Digital Health system. 

The Ministry of Health has dismissed claims that it has switched off Murang’a County’s Afya Ke Digital Health system. 

In a statement on Thursday, October 15, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale said the Ministry neither owns nor manages the system and does not have access to its source code.

“To set the record straight, the Ministry of Health has not switched off the Afya Ke system. The Ministry neither owns, controls, nor manages the system, nor does it have the source code, contrary to the allegations,," he said. 

CS Duale claimed that the system is a private arrangement between the Murang’a County Government and the system’s developers

In response, Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata said the .go.ke domain, which is used by the health system, is reserved for government entities and registered under the Treasury.

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"All .go.ke domains are registered under Treasury nameservers," Governor Kang'ata responded. 

A spot check by Nairobi.co.ke also confirmed that the .go.ke domains are registered under National Treasury nameservers.

File image of Murang'a Governor Irungu Kang'ata. 

At the same time, CS Duale dismissed claims that the Digital Health Agency (DHA) had refused to certify the system. 

Duale alleged that neither the developers nor the county government had submitted an application for certification.

“The Digital Health Agency (DHA) has also not refused to certify the Afya Ke system. Neither the Afya Ke developers nor Murang'a County has applied for certification,” he said. 

Further, Duale said the Ministry of Health remains committed to supporting Murang’a and other county governments in advancing their digital health programmes.

“We wish to assure the public that all Social Health Authority (SHA) beneficiaries in Murang'a will continue to access healthcare services without interruption via the established SHA systems,” the statement added. 

On Wednesday, Kang’ata claimed that the National Government had switched off the Afya Ke system and forced the Murang’a county government to join the SHA system. 

The Murang’a Governor also alleged that the Ministry of Health refused to certify Afya Ke. 

“It is unfortunate that the National Government has now switched off this system and forced Murang'a to join the SHA new system after the Digital Health Authority, Ministry of Health and SHA jointly refused to certify Afya Ke as a digital system that can provide health information exchange, even as private Health Management Systems from private hospitals have been certified and interconnected,” Kang’ata alleged. 

He claimed that the Afya Ke system was picked from the national government and improved by Murang'a software developers. 

Further, he said CS Duale had assured him that the system would be interconnected to SHA and not shut down. 

Governor Kang’ata said shutting down the system would result in the loss of patient data built since 2023. 

He also said the switching off of the system has disrupted services across health facilities in Murang’a. 

“Murang'a County Level 2 and 3 facilities have stopped offering services after the National Government switched off the system, endangering patients' lives and causing loss of revenue as they cannot claim SHA refunds,” he added.