Govt to Clear NHIF Pending Bills in Two Months – CS Duale

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has announced that the government will clear all pending bills owed to hospitals under the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) within the next two months.

The bills represent payments owed by NHIF to public, private, and faith-based health facilities for services offered to its members before the fund was scrapped.

Speaking during a press briefing on Wednesday, September 3, Duale said the repayments will begin once the National Treasury introduces a supplementary budget, in line with President William Ruto’s directive.

“The first repayment of Sh5.3 billion will go to hospitals owed between Sh1 million and Sh10 million. These account for 92 per cent of the total pending bills,” Duale said.

He linked the closure of NHIF to corruption, saying the new Social Health Authority (SHA) was set up to protect patients’ money.
“NHIF had become a den of corruption where patients’ money was misused. That was immoral and unconstitutional, and we could not allow it to continue,” he stated.

The CS further revealed that an independent team outside the Ministry of Health had been formed to verify claims above Sh10 million before any payments are made.
“Some fraudulent individuals rushed to court to block the verification process because they knew their claims were fake. The court declared the committee unconstitutional, and I respect that, but I also have a duty to protect public funds. If you want payment, your claims must first be verified,” Duale said.

He added that the verification exercise will help weed out fraudulent claims and ensure that only genuine facilities are paid.

The announcement comes days after Duale handed over 1,188 files containing evidence of alleged fraudulent claims by health facilities to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) for investigations.