Nairobi — The Ministry of Health has announced that the National Police Service (NPS) and the Kenya Prisons Service will be compulsorily enrolled into the Social Health Authority (SHA) from April 1, consolidating medical cover for all state security agencies under the new health insurance framework.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale confirmed the timeline, saying the move follows the successful migration of teachers into SHA late last year and is part of a broader plan to centralise the medical welfare of public servants.
"From April 1, we will manage the medical scheme of our security forces -- the police and the prisons. Under SHA, we already manage public servants, including teachers," Duale said.
The decision brings security agencies into the same framework that now covers teachers, despite earlier resistance from unions and public sector workers during the rollout of the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF).
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To counter concerns about capacity and service quality, Duale said the SHA framework significantly expands access to healthcare facilities. Under the previous insurance arrangement, public servants were limited to about 800 accredited hospitals. Under SHA, beneficiaries will be able to access services in more than 9,000 facilities nationwide.
He said the expanded network includes top-tier private and faith-based hospitals, as well as Level 6 referral facilities such as Aga Khan University Hospital, The Nairobi Hospital, and Kenyatta University Teaching, Referral and Research Hospital.
"This removes the old tiered system where access was restricted. Beneficiaries can now seek care from a much wider range of facilities," Duale said.
The Cabinet Secretary also highlighted the sharp contrast between benefits available to civil servants under the employer-funded scheme and those accessible to the general public under SHIF. He noted that a teacher at Grade B, for instance, is entitled to maternity cover of up to Sh120,000.
"A normal Kenyan is capped at Sh10,000," Duale said, underscoring the disparity.
The difference reflects the two-tier structure of the new health financing system: a comprehensive, employer-funded cover for public servants, and a standard package with capped benefits for the wider population.
Despite early opposition, Duale said teachers' unions, including KUPPET and KNUT, have since endorsed the scheme following consultations, citing recent engagements in Bomet.
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With the inclusion of the police and prisons services, the Social Health Authority is set to become the single largest public health insurer in the country, centralising billions of shillings in premiums that were previously managed through multiple insurance arrangements.
