The government through the Social Health Authority (SHA) has announced that it will refund members who were affected by its mishaps during the rollout exercise.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, October 6, Abdi Mohammed, chairman of the Authority, said the government will reimburse patients who paid for services out of pocket after being denied SHA coverage on the day of the rollout.
“All patients who have paid out of their pockets can reach out to us, and we will reimburse them,” the Chairman said.
His sentiments were echoed by his counterpart, Ibrahim Alio, Director of Corporate Services at SHA, who acknowledged that technical issues were encountered during the SHA rollout.
Government to refund money to patients who paid cash
He also confirmed that one of the patients who made headlines for being denied SHA services will be compensated, and the government will cover the cost of his treatment.
Alio was referring to an elderly patient who made headlines in Nakuru by the name of James Ngaruye who was in distress after being unable to access the SHA service in Sublime Hospital when the SHA rollout began.
Following the incident, Alio and his team approached him and found a way to help him.
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“We followed up with the patient and actually talked to the patient ourselves, talked to the son who is a caretaker, and actually followed up and made sure that in the next session, he will not face a similar predicament,” Alio explained.
“We have also agreed that we are going to refund him the Ksh 9,500 he used in the medical facility, “Ibrahim added.
SHA to be operational in the next 24 hours
At the same time, the SHA Chairman assured Kenyans that the SHA portal would be operational within the next 24 hours after the majority of Kenyans failed to access it when SHA was rolled out.
Challenges experienced with the portal were mainly issues such as member identification with the new portal, pre-authorization for services, and submission of claims for services provided.
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According to the SHA Chairman, 12,704,548 Kenyans registered with the authority as of Sunday, October 6, and a total of 1,442 contracted health facilities have already signed their contracts to offer SHA services to registered members.
On his part, Principal Secretary, Harry Kimtai also acknowledged that the rollout experienced a lot of problems and promised that the government would sort out the issue.
Additionally, he said that he has formed a committee to address the pending bills that the government owes to the healthcare service providers.
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