Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) Vihiga branch has now asked the Union’s Secretary General Akelo Misori to move with speed in advancing the talks with the employer Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and give way forward over teachers medical cover.
In a letter dated October 30, 2025 and signed by the branch Executive Secretary Sabala Inyeni, the teachers have raised concerns over the slow pace of the talks considering that the current medical cover ends in November, 2025.
They have further developed cold feet over the recent move by government of transferring the medical cover from Minet Kenya Insurance Brokers Ltd to Social Health Authority (SHA).
“Our attention has been drawn to a post by the Head of the Public Service, in one of the social media platforms. It appears the government, through the Teachers Service Commission, has already made a unilateral decision of moving teachers from Minet to Social Health Authority (SHA). While we acknowledge that teachers have had challenges with the administration of the Minet cover, it is important that the new cover stands out as an improvement of what we already have,” said Sabala in the letter.
According to Sabala, some of the challenges teachers faced under the current medical cover notably delays in approval when seeking various tests considered costly and admission for inpatient services, low capitation per visit allocated to most of the facilities, limit on the facilities that members are allowed to visit, use of generic drugs in most of the facilities, and delays in paying the contracted facilities, leading to suspension of services from time to time among others have been mitigated jointly by scheme managers, together with union officials at branch level as they arise from time to time.
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“Our members are therefore very reluctant to move to SHA considering the negative publicity that this new health fund has generated in both print and electronic media for the last few months. Most notable is the investigative report produced by the members of the Health Committee in the National Assembly, the corruption scandals at SHA that have seen change of guard for top management,” added Sabala.
The teachers have therefore asked Misori to expedite talks with TSC to forestall what is now threatening to be a full-blown health crisis at the end of November 2025, share with them a document showing the details of the new scheme for teachers under SHA, and list the teachers’ medical cover as a substantive agenda in the upcoming NGC meeting.
“As you ponder over this, don’t lose sight of the fact that teachers lost their entire medical allowance in 2016, to facilitate the medical cover by Minet. Also, be reminded that teachers are already paying a whopping 2.75% of their gross salary to fund SHA. Therefore, we have every right to demand for a comprehensive medical cover under SHA, if the decision to move all public servants to SHA is beyond your intervention. A healthy teacher is a productive teacher,” reiterated Sabala.
Early this week, Head of Public Service Felix Koskei in his official social media pages indicated receiving an update from the Joint Technical Committee of TSC and SHA on preparations for the TSC migration to the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund scheduled for December 1, 2025.
Koskei noted in the post that the migration will mark a key step towards a unified and sustainable health coverage framework for public officers, identifying those who were present during the update meeting being Deputy Head of Public Service Amos Gathecha, Principal Secretary for Public Service Dr. Jane Imbunya, TSC Chair Dr. Jamleck Muturi, Kenya National Hospital (KNH) Director Dr. Richard Lesiyampe, and other senior officials.
By Roy Hezron
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