The Social Health Authority (SHA) has sparked uncertainty among former National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) employees after declaring hundreds of their positions vacant.
In an internal memo dated March 7, 2027, SHA informed NHIF staff that recruitment was underway.
“In line with the above, the Social Health Authority Board has embarked on the recruitment of its staff and wishes to inform all staff of the defunct NHIF of declared vacant positions. Staff are encouraged to go through the advertised posts and apply for positions that they qualify,” the memo reads.
According to SHA, the recruitment aims to enhance the authority’s institutional capacity and strengthen service delivery.
The authority is seeking to fill 28 assistant director positions across various departments, 97 positions for principal officers and principal assistant officers, and 422 senior officer and senior assistant officer roles.
Applications can be submitted through the SHA recruitment portal or physically delivered to the SHA headquarters. “Applicants can submit their applications via the application portal https://recruitment.sha.go.ke/ or physically deliver them to SHA Building, 10th floor, clearly marking the position applied for on the envelope and addressing it to Chairman, Social Health Authority, P.O. Box 30443-00100, Ragati Road, Nairobi,” the memo states.
While launching SHA, the government assured NHIF staff that they would be retained or absorbed into other government positions. However, the Ministry of Health has since clarified that only 815 out of the 1,737 former NHIF employees will be absorbed into SHA. “The rest will be redeployed elsewhere within the public service,” the ministry stated.
Lawmakers were informed that the Public Service Commission (PSC) had approved SHA’s staffing structure, which limits its workforce to 815. As a result, 922 former NHIF staff will not be part of the new authority and will instead be placed in other government agencies.
