The Ministry of Health holds that the ongoing enrolment of Kenyans into the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) without their consent is legal.

As SHIF’s rolling out kicked off on Tuesday, October 1, members of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) – the public health insurance scheme SHIF replaced – have been getting SMS messages that they have been automatically registered for the controversial new plan.

In a statement on Thursday, Health Principal Secretary Harry Kimtai said: “The Ministry has received inquiries regarding the transition of existing NHIF members to SHA. We wish to clarify that the laws as per legal notice 147 of 2024 provided for the transition of all registered and verifiable NHIF members into SHA.”