Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has announced a significant reform in Kenya’s Social Health Authority (SHA) system, scrapping the use of OTP-based authorizations in favour of a biometric verification process integrated through the newly introduced Practice 360 app.
The move is aimed at enhancing efficiency, eliminating fraud, and strengthening identity verification in the delivery of healthcare services under the SHA model. The Ministry of Health confirmed that biometric registration services are now available at all level 4, 5, and 6 health facilities across the country.
In addition to the SHA system overhaul, CS Duale issued a stern directive to all pharmaceutical companies, instructing them to upload certified product data to the national product catalogue within 30 days. This measure is intended to ensure product traceability, standardization, and regulatory compliance within the national health supply chain.
The Cabinet Secretary warned that any company failing to comply with the directive within the specified timeframe will face deregistration and be delisted from the SHA ecosystem, effectively cutting them off from public sector health transactions.
The twin announcements mark a significant tightening of regulation and digital transformation within Kenya’s health sector, reinforcing the government’s commitment to accountability and universal health coverage.
