By Nyang’au Araka
Murang’a County has announced the suspension of services in some health facilities following the shutdown of its AfyaKE digital health system by the national government.
Governor Irungu Kang’ata made the announcement after initially reporting disruptions linked to the transition to a new platform.
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Kang’ata said the shutdown had affected Level 2 and Level 3 facilities, leaving patients without access to some services and preventing the county from submitting claims for reimbursements under the Social Health Authority (SHA).
In a statement, Kang’ata accused the national government of forcing the county to adopt a new digital health platform after the Digital Health Authority (DHA), Ministry of Health and SHA declined to certify AfyaKE for health information exchange.
The governor said the decision had disrupted a system the county had used since 2023 to automate hospital operations, manage patient records and support telemedicine services.
“Murang’a County Level 2 and 3 facilities have stopped offering services after National Government switched off the system,” Kang’ata said, warning that the disruption was endangering patients’ lives and causing revenue losses.
He added that the county would reduce operations in its telemedicine services as health workers undergo retraining to use the replacement SHA/DHA system.
AfyaKE was introduced to digitise hospital records, including patients’ diagnoses, prescriptions, laboratory tests and bills.
It also enabled doctors to consult patients remotely, including those attending dispensaries in distant parts of the county.
Kang’ata said automation had helped increase the county’s annual health revenue from Sh80 million to Sh800 million, which he attributed to improved collections and the expansion of medical services.
He cited infrastructure developments at Murang’a Level 5 Hospital, Kirwara Hospital and Nyakianga Dispensary as projects funded through the additional revenue, alongside improved consistency in medicine supplies.
Patient data
The governor said AfyaKE was a government system that Murang’a had adopted and subsequently improved through local software developers.
County staff had been trained to use it, and the platform contained patient data accumulated since 2023.
He regretted that the information would remain inaccessible following the shutdown, raising concerns about continuity of care and access to patients’ medical histories.
Kang’ata also claimed that Cabinet Secretary for Health Aden Duale had previously assured him that AfyaKE would be interconnected with SHA rather than discontinued.
“This is despite a promise by Cabinet Secretary Hon. Duale in my presence that AfyaKE would be interconnected to SHA and not shut down, which never happened,” he said.
The shutdown has also raised concerns about the cost of migrating to a new platform.
Kang’ata said AfyaKE was free to use, while the replacement system would require counties and other public institutions to pay.
He further claimed that the decision would affect other institutions that had adopted AfyaKE, including the Department of Defence and hospitals in Tharaka Nithi County.
Unamused citizens
The announcement attracted criticism on X, with some users questioning the decision to discontinue a system they understood to have been provided without subscription charges.
Samuel Njoora questioned the rationale behind the transition, asking: “What is wrong with KK government? How do you stop a free service to introduce a subscription system?”
Another user, Kibaiyanganga, expressed concern about the disruption of telemedicine services, saying many people in rural areas relied on them to manage various medical conditions.
Ndekei Mburu proposed an alternative in which supporters could contribute towards hosting the system, with a reliable information technology investor establishing a data centre at the proposed industrial city.
“Health is devolved,” he argued, suggesting that the county could explore ways of keeping the service available independently.
The dispute comes against the backdrop of Kenya’s broader digital health reforms, which seek to establish interoperable systems that allow health information to be exchanged securely across facilities.
The Digital Health Act, 2023, provides the legal framework for regulating digital health systems, while the Digital Health Agency oversees certification to ensure that platforms meet requirements on security, data protection and interoperability.
The agency’s certification framework covers electronic medical records, hospital management systems, laboratory information systems and telehealth platforms.
The Ministry of Health had previously outlined plans to migrate the SHA provider portal to a health management information system, with the transition expected to be completed by October 30, 2026.
Kang’ata said Murang’a would retrain its staff to use the new platform, while reducing telemedicine operations during the transition.
The county government regretted the inconvenience caused to patients.
