SHA Responds to Critical System Downtime Affecting Hospitals

The Social Health Authority (SHA) has announced a significant service interruption following a critical system failure at the Digital Health Agency on March 1, 2026. The outage has disrupted essential healthcare operations, particularly the pre‑authorization processes that underpin patient care across the country.

In a statement on March 2, 2026 signed by SHA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr. Mercy Mwangangi, the authority acknowledged the severity of the incident and apologized for the inconvenience caused to healthcare providers and patients.

“These services are vital to daily operations and the delivery of quality healthcare. We are working urgently with the Digital Health Agency to identify the root cause and restore functionality,” the notice read.

What Is Pre‑Authorization and Why Does It Matter?

Pre‑authorization is the process where healthcare providers must obtain approval from the Social Health Authority before delivering certain medical services or treatments. It ensures that procedures are medically necessary, covered under the health scheme, and financially accounted for.

Without this step, hospitals and clinics face delays in treating patients, as they cannot proceed with services that require prior clearance. For patients, this means postponed treatments, longer waiting times, and potential disruptions in accessing critical care.

The SHA emphasized that technical teams are actively engaged in resolving the issue and committed to providing regular updates until full service restoration is achieved. Healthcare providers have been urged to remain patient as efforts continue to stabilize the system.

The outage underscores Kenya’s growing reliance on digital infrastructure in healthcare, where system failures can have immediate and widespread impacts on service delivery.

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