Health services hit as SHA digital platform faces downtime

Social Health Authority buildings in Upper Hill, Nairobi.

The Social Health Authority (SHA) has announced a major service interruption affecting its digital health platform, disrupting pre-authorisation services across contracted healthcare facilities nationwide.

In a public notice released on March 2, 2026, SHA informed healthcare providers that it had experienced a critical system failure since March 1, leading to significant downtime.

The interruption has affected services delivered through the Digital Health Agency, which supports essential SHA operations.

“This is to formally notify you of a service interruption and downtime affecting the Digital Health Agency’s services, which are critical to the Social Health Authority (SHA) operations,” the notice reads.

SHA said it had received communication from its service provider indicating a major incident that resulted in significant system unavailability.

The outage has specifically disrupted pre-authorisation processes, a core component in the approval of medical procedures, admissions and specialised treatments under the national health scheme.

Pre-authorisation ensures that healthcare facilities obtain approval before offering certain services to patients covered under SHA, making it a critical link in service delivery and claims processing.

According to the notice, the system failure has interrupted essential healthcare service delivery across contracted facilities. Hospitals and clinics that rely on the digital platform to verify patient eligibility and secure approvals have been forced to adjust their operations amid the downtime.

SHA acknowledged the gravity of the disruption, noting the impact on daily healthcare operations and patient care.

“We understand the critical nature of these services for your daily operations and patient care, and we sincerely apologise for the significant inconvenience and disruption this is causing,” the authority stated.

The agency assured providers that technical teams are fully mobilised to restore services. SHA said its experts are working in close collaboration with the Digital Health Agency to identify the root cause of the failure and reinstate full functionality as quickly as possible.

“Our technical teams, in close collaboration with the Digital Health Agency, are fully mobilised and working with the highest urgency to identify the root cause and restore full functionality as quickly as possible,” the statement added.

SHA further appealed for patience from healthcare providers during the outage period, promising regular updates until reliable service restoration is achieved.

The authority emphasised its commitment to resolving the issue urgently to minimise further disruption to patient care.

The incident has highlighted the growing reliance on digital infrastructure in Kenya’s healthcare system and the vulnerability of service delivery to system failures.

As restoration efforts continue, healthcare providers across the country remain on standby for updates on when full digital operations will resume.