Unsigned Hospitals Lose SHA Patients From Thursday Morning
Key Highlights
- SHA contracts end at 11.59pm on Wednesday 30 September.
- From Thursday, an unsigned clinic cannot bill the scheme.
- A patient mid-treatment may be moved.
Social Health Authority contracts with hospitals and clinics expire at 11.59pm on Wednesday, 30 September 2026. From Thursday 1 October, any facility that has not signed the new 2026 to 2029 contract will be cut off from SHA patients.
That is the notice from SHA chief executive Mercy Mwangangi, carried by KBC and repeated in the authority's public warning. The provider portal will be switched off for unsigned facilities. They will not be allowed to treat people on SHA cover. Patients already in a course of care are to be moved to a hospital that has signed.
Starting an application is not enough. SHA has said only an executed contract counts.
What it costs a family on Thursday
If your usual clinic is unsigned, SHA will not pay the bill there from Thursday morning. You pay cash, or you travel to a contracted hospital. That is the money line. A delayed chemotherapy cycle, a dialysis slot, or a maternity booking can move with little notice.
SHA has told late hospitals to arrange those transfers now. Waiting until Thursday morning leaves the patient in the queue.
The new cycle, called HAKIKA, runs from 1 October 2026 to 30 June 2029. It covers the Primary Health Care Fund, the Social Health Insurance Fund, the Emergency, Chronic and Critical Illness Fund, and the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund. The Ministry of Health opened the electronic contracting portal on 18 September.
What a hospital loses
An unsigned facility loses SHA billing and portal access. For many clinics that is the main cash flow from public patients. Staff rotas and drug orders sit on that income. The HMIS compliance window also ends on 30 September. Two clocks run together.
This is a contracting deadline. It is not a change in the health levy itself. Cover still depends on a live hospital contract.
What to do today
Ask the front desk, and ask for it in writing if you can, whether the 2026 to 2029 contract is signed. If the answer is no, ask where ongoing treatment will be sent. Keep the last SHA claim or admission number.
Wednesday night is the last hour of the old contract. Thursday morning is a different list.
Related Mwenendo reading on public money and household cost sits in the Treasury interest bill and in the Equity rally that repriced a listed bank stake. Those stories are about where public and private cash goes. This one is about whether your clinic can still take SHA on Thursday.
In Summary
- When does the old SHA hospital contract end?
- At 11.59pm on Wednesday 30 September 2026. Unsigned facilities are off the scheme from 1 October.
- What does a patient lose if their clinic is unsigned?
- SHA will not pay that clinic from Thursday. The patient pays cash there, or moves to a contracted hospital. Ongoing cases are meant to be transferred.
- How do you check before Wednesday night?
- Ask the facility whether the 2026 to 2029 contract is executed, not merely applied for. SHA says only a signed contract keeps the portal open.