{"id":1888,"date":"2025-09-22T18:29:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:29:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/?p=1888"},"modified":"2025-09-22T18:29:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T18:29:42","slug":"sha-publishes-list-of-36-medical-services-unavailable-in-kenya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/2025\/09\/22\/sha-publishes-list-of-36-medical-services-unavailable-in-kenya\/","title":{"rendered":"SHA Publishes List of 36 Medical Services Unavailable in kenya"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Social Health Authority\u2019s (SHA) latest policy on overseas treatment is drawing attention to deep gaps in Kenya\u2019s healthcare system. By publishing a list of 36 medical services unavailable locally, the authority has effectively acknowledged the country\u2019s heavy reliance on foreign hospitals for complex procedures.<\/p>\n

The unavailable services range from liver and bone marrow transplants to paediatric kidney transplants and advanced oncology care. The absence of these services is attributed to lack of surgical expertise, inadequate training, poor infrastructure, and limited access to modern technology.<\/p>\n

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has emphasised that the new framework ensures transparency, unlike the previous National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) system that was marred by corruption and inflated costs. Only empanelled and accredited hospitals abroad will qualify for payments, and they must be linked to local facilities for follow-up care.<\/p>\n

However, patients can only access treatment overseas if their contributions to SHA are up to date, and even then, coverage is capped at Sh500,000. This restriction has sparked criticism, as most transplants and advanced procedures abroad cost several million shillings.<\/p>\n

Mary Wanjiku\u2019s case illustrates the dilemma. Living with kidney failure since her youth, she has undergone two failed transplants and now needs a third in India at a cost of Sh15 million. Despite her dire need, the capped coverage means she must raise nearly the entire amount herself.<\/p>\n

While SHA\u2019s policy is a step toward curbing abuse, it also highlights Kenya\u2019s urgent need to build capacity for complex treatments locally. Without investment in training, technology, and oncology infrastructure, Kenya will continue exporting patients and importing medical bills.<\/p>\n

The new overseas policy may streamline processes, but for patients in desperate need, it underscores a harsh truth: Kenya\u2019s health system is still not ready to carry its sickest citizens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Social Health Authority\u2019s (SHA) latest policy on overseas treatment is drawing attention to deep gaps in Kenya\u2019s healthcare system. By publishing a list of 36 medical services unavailable locally, the authority has effectively acknowledged the country\u2019s heavy reliance on foreign hospitals for complex procedures. The unavailable services range from liver and bone marrow transplants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/stateupdate.co.ke\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/WhatsApp-Image-2024-10-01-at-3.16.53-PM.jpeg?fit=1600%2C1066&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc68Dd-us","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1890,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions\/1890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateupdate.co.ke\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}