Health CS Aden Duale / HANDOUT
The CS also revealed tricks health facilities use to allegedly misappropriate public funds.
Duale insisted that allegations of skewed hiring are misleading and a backlash from those involved in widespread abuse of the defunct NHIF funds.
Addressing MPs during the ongoing legislative retreat, Duale said the viral list did not originate from the ministry.
“The list circulating on social media is fake. I am ready to appear before the House or the Committee on National Cohesion and Equal Opportunity and table our data. That thing going around is not from us,” Duale said.
The clarification follows public debate after reports suggested that nearly half of the 47 county operations manager positions had been filled by individuals from just two communities.
A physical count shows 22 officials come from these two communities, with the remaining positions distributed among other groups. This statistic has intensified scrutiny of the recruitment exercise.
The CS also exposed tricks used by some health facilities to ‘steal’ from the Fund, which he said have been detected and rejected by the SHA system.
“We have moved from paper records to digital highways. If you try to steal from SHA, the system will catch you,” Duale said.
He revealed that hospitals have attempted to siphon public funds by inflating claims, billing for services not rendered, creating ghost patients and manipulating patient records.
Between October 2024 and April 2025, Sh11 billion in fictitious claims were flagged by the system.
In some cases, facilities reported that 100 per cent of mothers delivering had undergone Caesarean sections.
“In Tharaka Nithi, one facility said 500 mothers delivered by CS,” Duale said, adding that some mothers are forced to undergo CS even when normal delivery is possible.
He also cited claims submitted without supporting documents, or where one person filled multiple forms with the same handwriting and pen colour. “That is a rejection, and we won’t pay,” he said.
Duale highlighted other abuses, such as facilities claiming for surgery procedures without theatre notes or recording a single patient as having visited 10 times in one day.
Another misuse involves claiming drugs not dispensed to patients. “Some 50,000 patients in a county may see a doctor, do a CT scan, but not receive medicine, yet the facility claims for the drugs.
In Kamaega, 52,000 went through the system but only 8,000 received medicines; in Bomet, 36,000 went through but only 600 got medicines,” he said.
The CS said the new system has strengthened controls and introduced stricter self-audits to close loopholes that allowed billions of shillings to be lost under the defunct NHIF.
Facilities and individuals found culpable will face sanctions, including delisting from SHA.
“The system tracks everything from the moment a Kenyan pays to when the money is used for supplies or claims. If you try to steal, the system will catch you,” Duale warned.
INSTANT ANALYSIS
Duale maintained reforms at SHA aim to restore public confidence in the health insurance scheme and ensure funds benefit deserving Kenyans, not cartels within the health sector.
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