Private hospitals to stop admitting police and teachers over SHA crisis

Private hospitals to stop admitting police and teachers over SHA crisis

The Rural & Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya (RUPHA) has said they will stop the medical cover service for teachers and police over the crisis around the Social Health Authority.

In a press statement released on Thursday, February 20, 2024, RUPHA said the medical scheme for the police and teachers will be stopped because SHA has not settled outstanding debts for 11 months.

“RUPHA members will no longer provide care under the Medical Administrator Kenya Limited (MAKL) scheme, which covers police officers and teachers.

“MAKL has failed to pay hospitals for over 11 months, forced hospitals to accept arbitrary and unexplained discounts, and favored its own clinics in an uncompetitive and unethical manner.

“Without urgent government intervention, teachers and police officers will be left without quality healthcare services, further straining public hospitals already at breaking point,” RUPHA said in the statement.

Demands

Further, RUPHA has laid down demands and wants the government to act on them immediately.

The demands include the settlement of Ksh30 billion NHIF arrears, either through full payment or a clear, transparent settlement plan, revision of the SHA outpatient reimbursement model to reflect actual operational costs and ensure sustainable service provision.

And also ensuring fair and timely payments under the MAKL scheme, preventing further exploitation of hospitals.

“We urge Parliament, civil society, and professional bodies to support urgent reforms that will protect the healthcare system from complete collapse,” it added.

RUPHA informed the public that anyone seeking medical service will need to settle the payment in cash.

“We deeply regret that from Monday, 24th February 2025, patients seeking care under SHA will need to make cash payments at private and faith-based hospitals. This is not a decision we wanted to make, but it has become unavoidable to safeguard patient care and hospital sustainability.

“We are committed to serving the public, but hospitals cannot continue to provide services in an environment that jeopardizes patient safety and financial stability. We stand ready to work with the government if real solutions are presented. However, we cannot continue subsidizing a broken system at the cost of patient safety and hospital sustainability,” it concluded.