No evidence Kenya's health minister Deborah Barasa said 'life is not compulsory' as hospitals run out of medicine
IN SHORT: According to a screenshot circulating on social media, Kenya's health cabinet secretary Deborah Barasa told Kenyans that "life is not compulsory" and urged them to consider private hospitals if public ones lacked medicines. But we found no evidence that she said this.
A screenshot of what looks like a tweet attributing a controversial quote to Kenya's cabinet secretary for health Dr Deborah Barasa is circulating on Facebook.
The screenshot appears to quote Barasa telling Kenyans that "life is not compulsory", and the problem with some of them is that they want to live up to 40 years.
It features Barasa's photo and begins with the text: "Hospitals run out of medical supplies."
It then quotes "CS Health" as saying: "Life is not compulsory. If there are no medicines in govt hospitals, go to private. Also give your immune system opportunity to work unassisted. The problem is some of you want to live up to age of 40."
"CS Health" has been used as an abbreviation for cabinet secretary for health in Kenya.
Some of the screenshots are captioned: "Eeeeeeeiiiii... That is your Health Minister Speaking!"
Kenyan president Willaim Ruto nominated Barasa in July 2024 to replace former cabinet secretary Susan Nakhumicha in the ministry. Barasa was sworn in about three weeks later.
Kenya's public hospitals are reportedly facing a shortage of medicine and essential medical supplies.
The supposed tweet comes at a time when there are mixed reactions over the reliability of the newly rolled-out Social Health Authority (SHA), a health scheme replacing the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in Kenya.
The SHA, one of the flagship projects of Ruto's government, aims to provide affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare services to all Kenyans by pooling their contributions.
While some Kenyans claim it has been beneficial in their treatment, others have complained that they have been denied medical services for various reasons.
When the scheme was rolled out in October, local media reported that the NHIF owed billions of Kenyan shillings to dialysis providers. As a result, they refused to participate in the new scheme and instead demanded that patients pay for their services in cash until their outstanding payments were settled.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
On 15 January 2025, some patients stormed the ministry's headquarters to express their frustrations over the scheme's system glitches, which resulted in them being denied services despite being registered members.
But did Barasa make such comments? We checked.
Badly done screenshot
The first clue that the screenshot might have been fabricated is that it is badly done.
Perhaps in an attempt to make it look legitimate, the creator included her verified X (formerly Twitter) handle, @DeboraBarasa. But the screenshot comes across as a statement made by someone else mocking Barasa's competence, rather than a tweet from her.
It is unlikely that the minister would quote herself on her X account and even include her title.
No evidence
It is also unlikely that Barasa would make such dismissive remarks, given that she is keen to convince sceptical Kenyans that the government's new health programme is working.
If she had made such a statement, it would have been picked up by local and international media. Africa Check could find no such quote published by credible news agencies.
We scoured Barasa's X account for the quote and came up empty.
On 8 January, she posted the screenshot and labelled it "fake news".
"Stop the spread of fake news! Verify information before sharing. Be part of the solution," she wrote.
The claim is false and should be ignored.
