By Brian Kiprono - Reporter
Kenya, August 18, 2026 - President William Ruto has defended Kenya’s shift to digital health systems, saying the reforms are intended to close accountability gaps in healthcare financing and ensure public funds can be traced.
Speaking at the National Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on Tuesday, Ruto said digitisation should not be viewed simply as replacing paperwork with computers.
“Digitisation is not simply replacing paper with screens. It is about making every patient visible, every payment accountable and every treatment traceable,” Ruto said.
The President said the government had established the legal, institutional and digital framework needed to support Universal Health Coverage (UHC), while acknowledging the role of Kenyans and county governments in implementing the reforms.
He thanked governors for working with the national government, saying their involvement had been critical to rolling out the new health financing system.
“Without the participation and partnership of county governments, this exercise would have been very difficult,” he said.
Ruto’s defence comes as the government continues to face criticism over the digitisation of health services and the transition from the former National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to the Social Health Authority (SHA).
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SHA Chief Executive Officer Mercy Mwangangi told the summit that 32.3 million Kenyans had registered with the authority, nearly twice the highest registration recorded under NHIF, which stood at 16.9 million.
The number of health facilities accessible to SHA members has also risen from 8,667 under NHIF to 10,713, according to Mwangangi.
The current network comprises 5,959 government facilities, 4,534 private facilities and 541 faith-based facilities.
The two-day summit is bringing together national and county governments and other health sector stakeholders to assess the progress and challenges of Kenya’s health reforms.