For years, Kenya's healthcare debate has happened in separate rooms. Government has spoken about policy, healthcare workers about working conditions, counties about limited resources, private hospitals about delayed reimbursements, and patients about affordability and access. Everyone has been talking, but too often at each other rather than with each other.
That is why the Kenya Health Summit 2026 was such an important moment for the country's health sector.
The two-day event brought together the national and county governments, the Social Health Authority (SHA), healthcare workers, private and faith-based providers, development partners and regulators. President William Ruto's decision to personally participate in the discussions highlighted the importance of healthcare reform and the need for collective accountability.
Healthcare is an ecosystem. The Ministry of Health cannot succeed without counties, counties cannot succeed without healthcare workers, and SHA cannot deliver Universal Health Coverage (UHC) without hospitals treating its members.
Public, private and faith-based facilities all play essential roles, while patients remain at the core of the system. Continuous dialogue is therefore not optional; it is necessary.
SHA remains one of the country's most debated reforms. Concerns over rejected claims, reimbursement delays, tariffs and system challenges are legitimate and should not be dismissed.
At the same time, progress deserves recognition. At the summit, the government announced that 32.3 million Kenyans had registered under SHA, compared with about eight million under the defunct NHIF. This represents remarkable growth in access to the national health financing system.
Registration alone does not equal UHC. Kenyans must understand their benefits, contribute where required and receive quality healthcare when they need it. Still, bringing millions more people into one national financing framework is a major step.
SHA has also reported significant payments to healthcare facilities across all 47 counties. While reimbursement challenges remain, the talk should now shift from asking whether SHA works to asking how it can work better.
One of SHA's biggest inherited challenges was unpaid NHIF debt. Hospitals had already treated patients, purchased medicines, paid staff and incurred operating costs, yet many claims remained unsettled. For many providers, these debts create serious cash-flow problems and threaten service delivery.
The government's commitment to settle verified NHIF legacy claims below Sh10 million is now translating into actual payments. Hundreds of private and faith-based facilities have begun receiving these funds. This is a positive step towards restoring confidence, although larger verified claims still need a transparent settlement plan.
Another important issue discussed at the summit was rejected claims. Every health financing system must prevent fraud and protect public resources. However, a rejected claim is not automatically fraudulent. Claims may fail because of documentation errors, coding mistakes or technical problems.
Private hospitals are sometimes viewed simply as profit-making institutions, yet they provide a substantial share of Kenya's healthcare services. Thousands of SHA-accredited facilities are private or faith-based, offering specialised treatment, maternity services, dialysis, diagnostics and emergency care that public hospitals alone cannot provide.
Private providers must remain accountable, maintain ethical standards and comply with regulation. But they should be treated as partners in delivering national healthcare, not competitors to government.
No healthcare reform can succeed without healthcare workers. Kenya has expanded its health workforce over the past decade, but shortages of doctors and nurses remain, especially in underserved counties. Conversations about UHC must include recruitment, remuneration, career progression, training and better working conditions.
The Kenya Health Summit should become an annual forum where leaders return to report what was promised, what was achieved, what failed and what must change. That is how trust is built, institutions improve and Universal Health Coverage becomes an everyday reality for all Kenyans.
County governments are equally important because devolution placed much of healthcare delivery in their hands. Patients do not distinguish between national and county responsibilities. They simply expect medicines to be available, equipment to work and healthcare workers to be present.
The summit also highlighted investments in medical equipment across the country. These investments can transform healthcare only if equipment is maintained, staffed and consistently available for patients.
Looking ahead, Kenya must expand the conversation beyond financing. Local pharmaceutical manufacturing should become both a healthcare and industrial priority to reduce dependence on imported medicines and consumables. Greater investment in research can help generate Kenyan solutions to Kenyan health challenges.
Preventive healthcare must also become a national priority. Screening, healthier diets, physical activity, community health promotion and early detection of diseases can reduce the growing burden of non-communicable diseases while lowering healthcare costs.
The greatest achievement of the Kenya Health Summit was not a single announcement or statistic. It was bringing every major player in healthcare into one national conversation.
Kenya's health system will always face competing interests and difficult choices. The answer is not less dialogue, but better dialogue backed by measurable commitments and accountability.
Albert Mandela Ogendi is the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Luton Medical Hospital
