Social Health Authority (SHA) CEO Elijah Wachira has come out to clarify on the misunderstandings of different healthcare services, even as the country transitions from the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the new Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).

This comes after Kenyans took to social media to express their worries on the new healthcare insurance plan on deadline day of registration (September 30).

Popular gospel disc jockey DJ Krowbar went further to post a video, claiming that his wife had received a phone call from her dialysis centre where it’s paid via NHIF and was informed that she will have to pay using cash in her subsequent sessions as of October 1, 2024.

“This SHIF/SHA thing just threw a huge curve ball on all dialysis patients country wide. My wife just got a call from her dialysis centre where it’s paid via NhifKenya and told to pay cash together with thousands others. PS: One dialysis session is KSh9,500 and my wife does two,” DJ Krowbar said on X, formerly Twitter.

But in a statement, Wachira insisted that no patient will be denied Dialysis and Cancer services.

Wachira also ordered that maternity services should not be denied to any person in KEPH (Kenya Essential Package for Health) level 2 and 3 facilities.

Additionally, Wachira says that active managed schemes should continue accessing services too.

Despite facing opposition from Kenyans and different stakeholders, Parliament’s Health Committee gave the transition from the 58-year-old NHIF to SHIF a clean bill of health.

This occurred on Monday, September 30 when Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Mulongo and his Principal Secretary provided a status update before the October 1 rollout of SHIF.

Kenyans are still not satisfied about the criteria the new scheme will use to assess how informal sector households will be grouped to determine their contributions to the health fund.