President William Ruto during the official opening of the Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC), Nairobi, August 18,2026. [PCS]
President William Ruto has accused the defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) system of enabling theft from sick Kenyans, citing claims for procedures that never happened.
Speaking on Tuesday, August 18, at the opening of the Kenya Health Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, Ruto described the old system as opaque and vulnerable to abuse.
"We heard of claims for procedures that never happened, fictitious patients and inflated bills. That was not healthcare, it was theft, and theft from sick Kenyans," said Ruto.
He called digital health systems the backbone holding the reforms together and said they would close loopholes that let people profit from the system's weaknesses.
Ruto ranked Universal Health Coverage (UHC) alongside the Affordable Housing Programme as one of the government's most consequential social transformation efforts, crediting collaboration between national and county governments for changes in how healthcare is financed, delivered and accounted for.
The two-day summit, themed "Reforms Delivered, Health as a Right," has drawn more than 5,000 delegates to audit progress under the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda (BETA) and set priorities for the remainder of Ruto's term, according to Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale.