The Social Health Authority (SHA) has quietly pulled down from its website a detailed list showing payments made to hospitals and further disabled access to the Kenya Master Facility Registry, a key public portal used to track health facilities and payment records.
The move comes at the backdrop of recent allegations by the public including a communication strategist Pauline Njoroge, who claimed that billions of shillings under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) could not be properly traced due to opaque disbursements to health facilities.
Until recently, Kenyans could access both the registry and the hospital payment records to verify the status of their preferred facilities and track government disbursements. However, attempts to log into the systems over the past 48 hours have been met with error messages or blank pages.
Speaking earlier today, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale defended SHA, insisting that the fund operates under strict accountability guidelines and that digitization was meant to enhance transparency in hospital financing. He dismissed claims of mismanagement as “politically motivated attacks” aimed at undermining ongoing health sector reforms.
Despite his defense, the disabling of the Kenya Master Facility Registry has triggered fresh concerns from civil society actors and health sector observers, who warn that the move undermines public access to vital data at a time when scrutiny over SHA’s operations is at its peak.
Analysts note that pulling down the data not only erodes public trust but also hampers health sector planning, as counties, facilities, and citizens rely on the registry to confirm accreditation and payments
