Murang’a Governor Irungu Kang’ata has accused the national government of disrupting healthcare services in the county by switching off the AfyaKE digital health system, warning that the move has affected hospital operations, put patients at risk and threatened revenue collection.
In a press statement, Kang’ata said Level 2 and Level 3 health facilities had stopped offering services following the shutdown, leaving patients vulnerable and preventing the county from claiming reimbursements from the Social Health Authority (SHA).
The governor said Murang’a adopted the AfyaKE system in 2023 to digitise hospital operations, improve revenue collection and strengthen service delivery.
He explained that the platform enabled health facilities to record patients’ details, diagnoses, prescriptions, laboratory tests and bills electronically, while also supporting telemedicine services.
Kang’ata attributed a significant increase in the county’s annual health revenue to the system, saying collections had risen from KSh80 million to KSh800 million.
He said the additional revenue had supported the construction and expansion of health facilities, including projects at Murang’a Level 5 Hospital, Nyakianga Dispensary and Kirwara Hospital, as well as developments at Kandara Hospital.
He added that AfyaKE had helped the county maintain consistent medicine supplies and introduce innovations such as telemedicine and solarisation of health facilities.
The governor said the system, which was obtained from the national government and subsequently improved by Murang’a-based software developers, had accumulated patient records since its introduction. He expressed concern that the data had become inaccessible following the shutdown.
Kang’ata faulted the Digital Health Authority, the Ministry of Health and SHA for declining to certify AfyaKE as a system capable of supporting health information exchange, forcing the county to transition to the national government’s SHA Tibabu platform.
He said the decision was made despite assurances from Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale that AfyaKE would be interconnected with SHA rather than discontinued.
He also questioned why privately developed hospital management systems had been certified and interconnected while AfyaKE, which he described as a free government system, had not received similar treatment.
The governor further warned that the transition would impose additional costs on counties and national government institutions that had been using AfyaKE, since the replacement platform was not free.
He said other institutions, including the Department of Defence and hospitals in Tharaka-Nithi County, which had adopted the system, could also be affected by the disruption.
Kang’ata announced that Murang’a would scale down its telemedicine operations as healthcare workers underwent retraining to adopt the SHA Tibabu system.
He apologised to patients for the inconvenience, saying the transition would affect the delivery of services as the county adjusted to the new digital health platform.
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