The Social Health Authority (SHA) has moved to seek overseas healthcare providers to offer specialised medical services to Kenyan patients seeking treatment outside the country.
In a public notice issued by the SHA Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Mercy Mwangangi, the exercise targets overseas healthcare providers with the capacity to deliver highly specialised medical interventions that are not readily available in Kenya.
The services will be offered to beneficiaries covered under the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), the Primary Healthcare Fund, the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, and the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund (POMSF).
According to the authority, the move is anchored in the Social Health Insurance Act of 2023, which mandates SHA to contract and empanel healthcare providers for the delivery of health services under the national health insurance framework.
SHA is also guided by regulations governing the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund.
SHA has therefore gazetted an overseas benefit package and tariffs, which outlines the list of medical interventions eligible for treatment abroad.
According to reports, the list, developed by the Benefits Package and Tariffs Advisory Panel, covers procedures that cannot be accessed locally and is available on the authority’s website.
