Busia: The Ministry of Health has defended the Digital Health System service fee, dismissing claims that public funds are being unlawfully channeled to a private company. The ministry maintained that the levy is legal, capped, and payable only to the Digital Health Agency.
According to Kenya News Agency, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale reacted to a report carried in one of the daily newspapers on the service fee levy, stating that suggestions of the service fee benefiting a private entity had created a false impression. CS Duale insisted that the charge is established under existing law and supports the operation of the country’s national digital health infrastructure.
Duale emphasized that digitization is central to the implementation of Universal Health Coverage. He noted that the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, requires processes such as member identification, pre-authorization, claims management, and settlement to be conducted through a secure, interoperable, and verifiable digital information system. He explained that the service fee is provided for under the Digital Health (Data Exchange Component) Regulations, 2025, and is charged at two percent of services processed through the Health Information Management Service (HIMS), subject to a maximum of Sh5,000 per transaction.
According to the Cabinet Secretary, the levy is a capped system usage fee and not an open-ended deduction from hospitals’ earnings. The CS further clarified that the fee is paid to the Digital Health Agency, a state corporation established under the Digital Health Act, 2023, to support the Comprehensive Integrated Health Information System. He dismissed allegations that private companies receive or control public healthcare funds, asserting that the Social Health Authority (SHA) remains solely responsible for reviewing, processing, and paying claims to contracted healthcare providers.
‘Every shilling received by the Digital Health Agency is public money and is accounted for as public money,’ Duale stated, adding that the agency’s accounts are audited by the Auditor-General and tabled before Parliament in accordance with the law. Addressing concerns over the involvement of the Safaricom Consortium, the Cabinet Secretary explained that the consortium was engaged through a government procurement process that allows subcontracting, stressing that such commercial arrangements do not make subcontractors recipients of public funds or give them any role in paying hospitals.
Duale also mentioned that the regulations establishing the service fee underwent regulatory impact assessment, public participation, stakeholder consultations, and parliamentary approval before being published in the Kenya Gazette in April 2025. The Cabinet Secretary noted that the matter is now before the High Court and that the government will respond through the judicial process, declining to provide further details to the media.
He assured healthcare providers that the Ministry remains open to engagement, stating that he had directed the Social Health Authority and the Digital Health Agency to continue resolving concerns raised by stakeholders and improve the system where necessary. ‘Every shilling under Taifa Care belongs to the Kenyan patient,’ Duale asserted.
