Pain as hospitals await payments from NHIF
The NHIF building in Nairobi. A number of hospitals are still waiting for their dues from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), while others are milking millions in scandalous deals.
A number of hospitals are still waiting for their dues from the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), while others are milking millions in scandalous deals. Several hospitals Sunday Nation spoke to confirmed that their claims range from Sh1 million to Sh5 million but they are yet to be paid while a single hospital was paid Sh682 million.
“What criteria did they use to pay the hospitals, why didn't they pay hospitals with less before paying such a huge claim to a single hospital?” asked a hospital manager who sought anonymity.
He said after learning from a press briefing by Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha last week that all hospitals had been paid by NHIF, he wrote an email enquiring about the status of payment. “I have not received any response from NHIF and the minister should know that some hospitals have not been paid,” he says.
Another administrator at a hospital in Western Kenya, who requested anonymity, said he has not received Sh1.7 million and demanded that the money be released to enable him to continue operating. “You know with the blackmailing, sacking and suspension that is going on, our hospital can easily be profiled. We are asking to be paid what is rightfully ours, it is not like we have doubled the claims,” she says.
Dr Davji Atellah, secretary-general of the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Union (KMPDU), said he had received a number of complaints from hospitals and doctors asking him to escalate the matter. “You know, claims have to be paid for hospitals to operate. Let’s find a way to keep all the hospitals running. You cannot pay over Sh600 million to one institution and forget others with smaller amounts,” Dr Atellah said.
The government had released Sh10.2 billion to the fund to pay claims. Mr Michael Kamau, the NHIF board chairman, had earlier said they are investigating a number of hospitals that had overstated their claims and even submitted claims for operations that were never performed to the tune of Sh4 billion.
However, as hospitals that have genuinely provided services to Kenyans struggle to operate due to unpaid dues to NHIF, eight other hospitals included in the investigation were paid Sh1.54 billion for a total of 30,111 claims between July 1, 2022, and June 9, 2023. Dr Samson Kuhora, the NHIF acting chief executive officer, says impersonation is one of their biggest challenges. Dr Kuhora admits that they are battling the challenge of medical fraud, mostly through impersonation.
