Anxiety hits medical scheme for teachers

Anxiety has gripped more than 240,000 teachers as the fate of their medical scheme remains unknown, with only one week to the end of the current cover.

The Nation has established that the Sh15 billion tender award to Aon Kenya has been challenged at the Public Procurement Review Board.

This raises fears that teachers and their dependants will not have medical cover beyond September 30.

The current Sh5.6 billion contract was extended in July for three months to Aon Kenya Insurance brokers to allow the teachers’ employer to get a new provider.

However, Clarkson Insurance, which was among four other companies that bid for the tender, has appealed the award.

On Thursday, the Kenya National Union of Teachers deputy secretary-general Hesbone Otieno asked those involved in the tender to hurry up so that teachers remain covered.

Teachers lost their monthly medical allowance last year and which was ranging from Sh767 to Sh4,412 per month, depending on job groups, to finance the new scheme.

The Teachers Service Commission floated fresh bids on July 4, attracting four firms: Smart applications, Clarkson, Aon Kenya and Liaison Brokers.

Commission chief executive Nancy Macharia wrote to Aon Kenya on September 8, informing it that it had won the tender.

The Daily Nation has established that Clarkson was eliminated at the preliminaries for failing to meet bid bond.

Clarkson was expected to provide a bid bond of Sh145 million but it gave one for Sh130 million.

The bid bond for AoN was Sh280 million.

Mrs Macharia said in the first year from October 1, the medical scheme will cost Sh4.5 billion.