Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) has admitted to a system failure that disrupted hospital-wide operations for two days, affecting patient care and administrative services.
In a statement shared on Wednesday, January 15, Dr. Evanson Kamuri, Chief Executive Officer of KNH, acknowledged a slight lapse in patient care.
He explained that the disruption was caused by a misalignment between the hospital’s internal systems and the Social Health Authority (SHA) platform.
Consequently, the downtime led to delays in patient clearance and slowed essential administrative processes, sparking concern among patients and the public.
“Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) wishes to acknowledge a slight lapse in patient care today and reassure the public that the Social Health Authority (SHA) system is now fully operational and aligned with the KNH system,” said the doctor.
Also Read: Drama as KNH Patients Storm Afya House Over SHA Complaints
Impact of the KNH – SHA Downtime
The disruption, which occurred over the last 48 hours, saw some patients experiencing delays in receiving medical services and clearance for treatments.
Long queues and frustrations were reported as the hospital struggled to process admissions and discharges during the outage.
Further, drama erupted at Afya House, Nairobi, when frustrated KNH patients stormed the Ministry of Health headquarters over persistent failures of the Social Health Authority (SHA) system.
The protest disrupted a press briefing by Health Cabinet Secretary Deborah Barasa. In a video seen by The Kenya Times, a female patient lamented the long wait for SHA approvals, forcing them to walk from KNH to seek help after receiving no assistance.
“We have been waiting for SHA to work since yesterday. Patients are stuck because the portal isn’t accessible at NHIF or Kenyatta. It’s not working,” she said.
The system glitch at KNH comes at a time when hospitals across the country are increasingly digitizing their operations to streamline services with SHA.
Another patient named Diana, who revealed that she recently underwent a Caesarean Section, also complained that she has not received attention at Kenya’s largest hospital as no service can be provided without SHA.
Also Read: Tragic Story of Joyce Ongombe: Woman Battling for Life After Losing Six Family Members
Are SHA Sytems Working Now?
However, to mitigate the impact of the downtime and clear the backlog, KNH announced the deployment of additional personnel across all affected departments.
Staff have been working extended hours to expedite service delivery and ensure pending cases are resolved promptly.
“We have taken swift action to restore normalcy by increasing our manpower and extending service hours in critical areas. Our priority is to ensure that every patient affected by the delays receives the necessary care without further inconvenience,” Dr Kamuri added.
The hospital also reaffirmed its commitment to delivering specialized, high-quality healthcare services and pledged to enhance its operational resilience to prevent future system failures.
“As Kenya’s leading referral hospital, we remain committed to upholding the highest standards of professionalism and patient care. We will continue to invest in robust system solutions to avoid a recurrence of such disruptions,” the CEO stated.
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