St Mary's Hospital Mumias to reopen after months of closure over SHA debt

The Catholic Bishop of Kakamega 317 Diocese, Joseph Obanyi, has announced that St. Mary’s Hospital Mumias will reopen at the end of this month after months of closure. This brings relief to thousands of residents who have been without services since the facility was shut down last year.

The hospital was closed following a prolonged strike by health workers after the management cited delays by the government in remitting funds under the Social Health Authority (SHA) health insurance scheme.

The delays resulted in staff going for months without salaries, making it impossible for the institution to continue operating.

Speaking to journalists at the Bishop Stamp area in Kakamega, Bishop Obanyi said the diocese had been forced to borrow funds to facilitate the resumption of services and clear part of the outstanding obligations to health workers.

“We could not allow essential health services to remain unavailable to the people any longer. As a church, we had to intervene and borrow funds to ensure the hospital reopens and resumes normal operations,” said Bishop Obanyi.

He emphasized the importance of continuity in healthcare, noting that St. Mary’s Hospital plays a critical role in serving vulnerable communities in Mumias and its environs, many of whom rely on the faith-based facility for affordable medical care.

The hospital ceased operations on July 1, 2025, after the human resource manager told workers not to report for work until further notice.

Workers at the hospital had downed tools a few days earlier in protest after going without pay for four months. The inability to pay the workers their salaries is mainly attributed to a failure by the Social Health Authority (SHA) to remit funds to the hospital.

“St Mary’s Hospital was owed a lot of money by the defunct NHIF and is also owed quite a lot by the Social Health Authority (SHA). This is what has caused that great hospital to fail. There is a major problem with SHA, and it is not a political problem, it is a designed problem,” Rural and Urban Private Hospitals Association of Kenya chairman Brian Makamu Lishenga earlier said.

SHA was in the limelight for approving payments to ghost hospitals while real hospitals that have rendered services to patients are sidelined.

In its good days, St Mary’s Hospital, Mumias served patients from the four Western Kenya counties of Kakamega, Busia, Bungoma, and Vihiga, and beyond.

The hospital was established in 1908 by missionaries, and by the time it was closing its doors to the public, it was being managed by the Catholic Church, diocese of Kakamega.

The closure of the hospital generated controversy, with a section of leaders and the public accusing President William Ruto and his administration of looking the other way while corruption in the Ministry of Health continues to cripple health facilities across the country.

Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi had accused some politicians of misleading Kenyans over the closure of St. Mary’s Hospital, arguing that the facility closed its doors due to mismanagement and not unpaid claims by SHA.

Bishop Obanyi of the Kakamega Diocese insisted from the outset that SHA had paid Sh9 million out of a claim of Sh143 million the hospital had submitted. While speaking at Malava, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi came to the defense of SHA and blamed the closure of St Mary’s on mismanagement.

Obanyi, however, disputed this claim and maintained that only Sh9 million had been paid.

“The hospital put forward a claim of Sh117 million under the SHA programme, and so far, they have received Sh82 million in payment. The government, through the Ministry of Health, has the records, and I am a witness. I have a copy of the records. If they want to dispute and bring on an argument, I am ready to produce the evidence of what they received in November and December last year and the subsequent payments under the SHA programme”, said Mudavadi.

This assertion contradicted an earlier claim by Obanyi. “We have received Sh9 million designated for the renal unit, and therefore the hospital has not received any money that we can say has come from the claims made to SHA,” said Obanyi.

“Talking about the Sh82 million that has been disbursed and that the hospital is still closed is pure politics. This is not the government hospital. It is a mission hospital that serves the poor”.