Private Hospitals Expose Duale’s Fight Against Fraud in SHA

The Rural & Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA) has warned that Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council’s (KMPDC) financial incapacity will cripple the Ministry of Health’s efforts to digitise and streamline the country’s healthcare system.
In a statement on Sunday, August 24, the Association warned that as of now, KMPDC does not have the manpower or the internal structures to regulate health facilities across the country, which has led to increased fraud in the Social Health Authority (SHA).
KMPDC is mandated with the responsibility to regulate the training and practice of medicine and dentistry in the country through licensing and registering medical and dental practitioners, accrediting training and health institutions, setting professional and ethical standards, and inspecting healthcare facilities in the country.
However, according to RUPHA, the recurrent budget cuts the council has suffered over the years have prompted it to rely more on counties rather than its own capacity, as per the constitution. This factor, according to RUPHA, has in turn led to the council “selling” licences to bogus facilities.
According to the association, despite the ministry affirming that it is ensuring the rapid digitisation of the healthcare sector,the dream is far from materialising.
“KMPDC has no capacity to verify bed capacity or ascertain fake facilities; they have no ground teams, and they rely on county officials. KMPDC just sells licenses to any person with a report from the County Public Health Office,” RUPHA stated.
“KMPDC has suffered budget cuts each year, and it will just sell hospital licenses to stay afloat. KMPDC, as the regulator, should have internal capacity to verify fake hospitals; it cannot rely on remote officers of another entity,” he added.
Furthermore, the Association further alleges that bank accounts used by the lead partner in the digitisation project were migrated directly from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) database without proper clean-up, raising fears that fraudulent facilities remain in the system.
“The bank accounts that Apeiro uses to pay hospitals were migrated directly from the NHIF database, with virtually no clean-up. ‘Fraud detection’ is being done manually by a team of young clinicians whose employer and terms of employment are not known,” RUPHA stated.
The concerns by RUPHA came days after SHA refuted claims that it had disbursed Ksh20 million to a non-existent hospital in Nyandiwa, Homa Bay County.
The clarification came after critics circulated reports and photos on social media suggesting that SHA was channelling funds to the authority, yet the hospital was deserted.
However, in a statement on Friday, August 22, SHA CEO Mercy Mwangangi insisted that the facility has existed since the 1970s and remains operational. Mwangi termed the circulating claims as false and misleading.
She explained that the Ksh20 million allocation represented legitimate and accumulated claims duly processed in line with SHA’s strict verification and payment protocols.
“The Social Health Authority (SHA) has noted with concern a misleading article published on August 22, 2025, alleging that SHA disbursed Ksh20 million to a ghost facility. These claims are false, misleading, and undermine basic principles of responsible journalism, such as accuracy, fairness, and balance,” the statement read.