Govt Directs Parents To Register Their Children For SHIF Before School Opens

The government has called on parents to register all school-going children as dependents on the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) before the commencement of the third term on August 26.

This directive follows the enactment of the Social Health Insurance Act 2023 which came into effect on November 22, 2023.

“The registration can be done through sha.go.ke, *147#, or afyangu.go.keas per attached registration manual,” Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang advised in a communiqué.

He asserted that the government, through the Social Health Authority, has developed an enhanced benefits for a package specifically tailored for students.

The scheme will retain the Edu Afya identity under the NHIF which SHIF replaces.

The new law required every Kenyan, including children, to register as a member of the SHIF.

Government rolled out a nationwide registration camapign on July 1 in efforst to expedite the realisation of Universal Health Coverage.

It emphasized the importance of the exercise, particularly for students, to ensure they have access to health coverage under the Edu Afya package.

The government is banking on a grace period provided by the Court of Appeal  in its ruling exempting SHIF — Digital Health Act, Primary Healthcare Act and Social Health Insurance Act — from an injunction.

Court of Appeal had on August 15 extended a stay on a High Court order halting transition from NHIF to SHIF pending further orders.

In a ruling delivered by a three-judge bench, on August 15, Appellate Court Judges — Justices Francis Tuiyott, Justice Ali Aroni and Lydia Achode — ordered the status quo be maintained until September 20, when the court will deliver a ruling.