The Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), Kisumu chapter, now wants their employer to clarify the confusion surrounding the numerous medical covers tutors are being subjected to.
KUPPET Kisumu County Executive Secretary Zablon Awange regretted that SHA is deducting teachers, while a Consortium of Minet insurance is also doing the same. Yet, teachers get raw deals in these double deductions.
Speaking in Kisumu, Awange was visibly annoyed that preauthorization takes a long time and that the system is clogged with limited facilities.
He observed that accredited facilities cannot provide adequate and quality services. In contrast, poor Inpatient services are the order of the day.
“Teachers want an immediate cessation of Minet cover and proper medical insurance outsourced or a refund of medical allowance,” he said.
Awange said they are concerned that the tendering process is not transparent and steeped in corruption, resulting in poor medical services and a high teacher mortality rate.
He indicated that teachers are often stranded in hospitals, either at admissions or discharge, and added that they must make noise before action is taken.
Most of the time, he said, teachers are turned away before admission.
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“A teacher at Bishop Okoth Ojolla Girls Secondary School, whose wife was involved in an accident three weeks ago, buried his wife after being turned away from the Minet facility that serves clients using AON Minet medical insurance cover and treated as an outpatient with paracetamol, yet had cracked lungs,” he said.
He said they support MPs’ demands that this shambolic medical scheme be stopped when TSC Chief Executive Officer Dr Nancy Macharia retires in June 2025.
“Enough is enough. Last weekend, four teachers were detained at Synergy and Prime Care as a dispute between SHA and Minet escalated. We demand one comprehensive cover, and our scheme can no longer be a cash cow as we lose countless teachers, including those going to deliver,” he said.
Awange said surgery cases are nightmares for teachers because they are unsure of their fate amid this confusion and inefficiency.
He said a teacher at Ahero Girls had to undergo three unnecessary surgeries in three hospitals for the same ailment.
“We demand a lasting solution to this medical scheme menace, which, like other issues of teachers’ welfare, such as promotion and recruitment, has been poorly handled by Dr Macharia and her Commissioners,” he added.
Awange slammed the CEO for her belated confession over their jumbled-up medical scheme.
By Fredrick Odiero
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