Health Cabinet Secretary Adan Duale has hit out at the Daily Nation over a story he says misrepresented how the digital health system’s service fee works.
The article which made the front page of the Daily Nation on the same day as Aden Duale ‘s statement, gave Kenyans the wrong impression that public money was somehow being handed to a private company outside the law.
“My attention has been drawn to the report carried by the *Daily Nation* on 4th August 2026 concerning the service fee levied on claims processed through the national digital health system,” Duale stated.
Additionally, the CS said that the impression was simply false and that he would not let it stand unchallenged.
“The report creates the impression that public money is being paid to a private company outside the law. That impression is wrong, and I reject it”, Duale added.
He insisted the fee in question is grounded squarely in law and forms part of the backbone of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country.
Duale argued that no government can register, verify and pay for every Kenyan’s healthcare using paper records, hence the need for digitization.
Turning to the defense of the funds, Duale explained that the Social Health Insurance Act, 2023, requires every claims process to run on a secure digital system.
He pointed to the Digital Health Regulations, 2025, which set the service fee at 2 per cent of the service provided, capped at Ksh5,000 per transaction.
However, Duale confirmed the matter is now before the High Court, where he is named as a respondent, and said the Government will file its response in due course.
