The government has implored on employers to declare their employees under the Social Health Authority (SHA) to make them eligible to benefit from the scheme.
Speaking during a training exercise for Human Resource Professionals in Public Service, Medical Services Principal Secretary, Harry Kimtai said only 120,620 employees are currently declared by 15,588 employers.
He also urged employees to confirm with their Human Resource that they are on boarded on the employer portal to ensure they are not denied services when they need them.
“We urge Human Resource Practitioners to declare their employees on the employers’ portal to guarantee their eligibility to benefit under the Social Health Authority,” said Kimtai.
Employees who are not declared cannot access services even if they have self-registered,” said the PS.
Currently, at least 12.7 million Kenyans have registered under SHA and 1,442 health care providers have been contracted to offer services to SHA registered members.
To declare employees, Kimtai advised employers to enter their NHIF by-product portal username and password and select their account to enter credentials.
“Once the system pulls your NHIF registration details, confirm the details displayed and then proceed to upload the business registration and KRA PIN certificate,” the PS said at the Kenya School of Government where the HRs were hosted by SHA for a one day workshop.
The employers were further taken through the process of logging in the contact person’s details. “Key in the details of the contact person and save the record, and the system will send an email to allow the user to set their password,” they were told.
“You are also advised to log on and upload the by-product file with the employee details where the system will check if the employees are already registered and return their CR numbers,” the PS said. The CR number is a distinctive identifier.
This, Kimtai said will allow the user to generate the by-product reference number in readiness to make the payment.
Kenyans can register by dialling *147# or on the website sha.go.ke or afyangu.go.ke.
The PS also made it clear that it is important for employers to clarify to their employees by informing them why the deductions are being made and their benefits.
“As you undertake that exercise of deducting salaries from employees, you need to clarify to them, you need to inform them as to why there is that deduction, and then what are the benefits of these deductions<” he said, emphasising that the Ministry of Health believes that the partnership between the human resource directors of the various companies will go a long way in subsidising the employees on their contribution of 2.75 percent, and also what are the benefits that they are supposed to enjoy following their deductions.
Acting deputy director general of Health, Dr. Zainab Gura said the government is ensuring that there is sustainable financing, in order to have a smooth and efficient processes.
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