Nationwide Concern as SHA System Outage Disrupts Services and Deepens Health Sector Tensions

A major interruption in the Social Health Authority (SHA) digital platform has rekindled debate over the stability of Kenya’s new health financing system, following days of delays that affected services at Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) and heightened frustrations across the country’s medical facilities.

At KNH, the outage stalled patient registration, billing, and clearance processes, forcing the country’s largest referral hospital to deploy additional staff and extend working hours to manage the backlog. The disruption, which lasted two days, also left many patients stranded as e-Citizen and SHA-linked operations stalled. Once the system was restored, KNH assured the public that normal services had resumed and apologised for the inconvenience caused.

Hospital CEO Dr. Evanson Kamuri issued a directive emphasizing that essential medical services such as dialysis, oncology care, and emergency treatment must continue regardless of digital system failures. He noted that documentation gaps resulting from the downtime would be sorted out once the platform stabilised, stressing that patient welfare should never be compromised by technical issues.

However, the KNH interruption only highlighted deeper cracks in the broader healthcare ecosystem. More than 300 private, mission, and community hospitals have already suspended SHA services, citing unresolved NHIF arrears, slow claim verification, delayed reimbursements, and repetitive portal failures. Many facilities argue that the financial strain created by the transition to SHA has made it difficult to operate sustainably, especially for outpatient centres that rely heavily on fast turnaround of claims.

The Office of the Ombudsman has since warned of an impending national health crisis if the government and private sector fail to reach a consensus soon. Their statement urged the state to address the backlog of unpaid claims, improve communication with health facilities, and enhance the reliability of the SHA platform to prevent further service collapses.

Meanwhile, SHA maintains that it has consistently paid validated claims and is working to strengthen system performance. Parliamentary updates in February indicated that platform availability had reached 98.2%, with ongoing efforts aimed at improving stability to near-perfect levels.

For millions of Kenyans enrolled under SHA, the recent glitches serve as a reminder of the delicate balance between digital transformation and real-world service delivery. As the country pushes forward with universal health coverage, the ability of the SHA system to withstand nationwide demand—and maintain trust—remains one of the most decisive factors in the future of public healthcare.