President William Ruto has revealed how fraudsters allegedly exploited Kenya’s health insurance system by filing claims for medical procedures that were never performed.
Ruto gave an unusual example of patients whose legs were allegedly claimed to have been amputated several times, joking that the same leg would somehow “grow back”.
“We even encountered the absurdity of claims for the amputation of patients’ legs several times, as though the same leg might have somehow grown,” Ruto said.
He described the fraudulent claims as “theft from sick people”, saying they were among the problems that pushed the government to digitise the health system.
“That was not healthcare; it was theft, and it was theft from sick people,” he said.
Ruto was speaking during the Kenya Health Summit 2026, where he defended the government’s reforms under the Social Health Authority (SHA).
He said the old system was vulnerable to claims for procedures that never happened, fictitious patients, inflated bills and other fraudulent practices.
According to the President, digitisation is intended to make it easier to track patients, treatments and payments.
“Digitisation is not simply about replacing paper with screens. It is about making every patient visible, every treatment traceable, and every payment accountable,” he said.
The remarks come amid wider concerns over fraud in the health insurance system.
The Ministry of Health has previously uncovered cases involving ghost facilities, double billing, non-existent patients and claims for services that facilities did not provide.
Ruto said the government had also encountered claims involving multiple amputations of the same patient, highlighting the extent to which loopholes in the old system could allegedly be exploited.
The President defended the ongoing digital transformation of the health sector, dismissing criticism of the system as part of resistance from people who benefited from the weaknesses of the previous arrangement.
He said the government was determined to close loopholes that allowed public funds meant for patients to be diverted through fraudulent claims.
The government has also moved to strengthen the supply side of healthcare, with Ruto saying the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority’s order fill rate had improved from about 40 per cent to 91 per cent.
He said KEMSA had received Sh1.5 billion in recapitalisation and a Sh10 billion credit line to strengthen the supply of medicines.
Ruto maintained that the success of the health reforms would ultimately be judged by whether patients receive affordable, reliable and dignified care.
“The ultimate measure of reform is not the law we pass or all the numbers to register, but the experience of every patient,” he said.
