NHIF embroiled in fresh Sh5bn hospital scandal

The National Hospital Insurance Fund is caught up in a fresh Sh5 billion scandal over a mysterious decade-old plan to put up a public hospital.

The information came to light after consultants, who say they have been working on the plan since 2001, wrote to parliament seeking the intervention of the Parliamentary Committee on Health in processing the payment for works done to date running over Sh5 billion.

The committee has since summoned NHIF Senior officials and Health Secretary James Macharia.

Sources within the NHIF board yesterday told the Saturday Nation that the fund’s chief executive officer Simeon Ole Kirgotty and other senior officials will appear before the committee this Tuesday.

“Consultants owed by NHIF have written to the Parliamentary Committee on Health questioning the failure by the institution to pay consultancy fees despite having delivered their services,” a source who is not authorised to speak on behalf of the NHIF board told Saturday Nation on phone on Friday on condition of anonymity.

Chaired by Hon Rachel Nyamai, Member of Parliament for Kitui South, the Health committee which deals with matters related to health, medical care and health insurance will seek to understand the history of the project, the rationale behind it and the intrigues that have led to the complaints by involved consultants.

Own hospital

A different source at the Federation of Kenya Employers, which is represented in the NHIF board, said there have been questions over whether it is feasible for a body charged with providing medical insurance to Kenyans to build its own hospital.

“The fund’s role is to provide insurance to Kenyans. There is no point in spending its revenues putting up a hospital while there already exist enough public and private hospitals in the country already,” the source at the board of FKE said.

However, it has now been revealed that NHIF’s initial plan was to put up a recreational centre. Follow up discussions with the ministry of Health later converted the project into a hospital.

“From the records I have seen, the initial idea was not a hospital and it was to be funded through a public-private partnership,” sources within NHIF said.

But the Fund’s board has been resilient arguing that building a health centre is not within its constitutional mandate.

This will be the second time NHIF has been summoned by the Health committee in less than two years after last year call to explain the irregular recruitment of healthcare providers and fraudulent payments to non-existent health institutions.

The fracas led to the disbandment of the fund’s board  in August last year. The organisation was also in the spotlight again last year after it made public its intention to increase monthly health cover contributions by over 500 per cent.

The controversial rate increment sparked a fierce dispute which spilled into the courts with the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) filling a suit to oppose the move on grounds that they were not consulted and the fund was mismanaging its revenues.

Reformed

Under the Jubilee government, NHIF is now among various institutions lined up for overhaul in efforts to enhance efficiency and improve the delivery of services to the public.

Deputy president William Ruto earlier in the week said the management structures of the fund, together with the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), must be reformed to enhance efficiency and transparency in collection of contributions and how the money is utilised.

“The concept of universal health care is at the heart of the Jubilee manifesto and for that reason, we intend to overhaul the system to make it accountable,” a statement from the office of the Deputy President said.

The NHIF is a state parastatal established in 1966 as a department under the Ministry of Health.

Its core mandate is to provide medical insurance cover to all its members and their declared dependants including spouses and children.

The Fund’s membership is open to all Kenyans who have attained the age of 18 years and have a monthly income of more than Sh1,000.