SHIF fraud investigation in Kenya: how 45 hospitals allegedly stole Ksh558 million.

 

 The SHIF fraud investigation Kenya has exposed what could be one of the country’s most brazen healthcare scams. A multi-agency team is now probing 45 hospitals suspected of illegally siphoning Sh558.7 million from the Social Health Insurance Fund through phantom patients and questionable registration practices.

At the center of this SHIF fraud investigation Kenya sits a hospital that didn’t legally exist when it started treating “patients.” Filyne Chima Hospital Ltd somehow got licensed to operate before it was even registered as a company—a timeline that’s raising serious questions about oversight in Kenya’s healthcare system.

The Hospital That Existed Before It Was Born

Here’s where the SHIF fraud investigation Kenya gets interesting. On February 15, 2025, Filyne Chima Hospital Ltd applied to be registered as a 168-bed hospital. There was just one problem: according to Business Registration Service records, the company didn’t exist. It wasn’t incorporated until March 17—a full month later.

Yet within 48 hours of that February application, the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) had already licensed Filyne Chima to operate. Even stranger, the master health facility register claims the hospital was established on October 15, 2024—five months before it was officially registered as a company.

Red Flags the SHIF Fraud Investigation Kenya Uncovered

Investigators found something suspicious about the money flowing into these hospitals’ bank accounts. For facilities like Filyne Chima, Bwana ni Mwema Medical Centre, and Tulatula Nursing Home, every single shilling came from SHIF. Not one patient apparently paid cash or used private insurance.

Think about that for a moment. No hospital operates like that in the real world. Even government hospitals see some patients paying out of pocket or using private cover. When 100 percent of your revenue comes from one source, it suggests something isn’t right.

The SHIF fraud investigation Kenya also flagged bizarre inconsistencies in hospital locations. Filyne Chima’s registered address shows it operates from “Westlife Building,” but KMPDC records place it in Mariba market, opposite an unnamed petrol station.