Students yet to get NHIF cards one year later

Secondary school students are yet to be issued with the ambitious National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) medical cover cards, a year after the programme was rolled out by the government.

On Saturday, Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha ) chairman Kahi Indimuli revealed that head teachers are still required to issue letters to students before they receive treatment.

“What we have been doing is writing introductory letters to the hospitals and providing the unique personal identification cards for the students. We are yet to get be informed about the medical cards,” said Mr Indimuli.

DATABASE

The launch of the NHIF medical cover is one of the government’s Big Four agenda’s, focusing on provision of affordable healthcare.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in April last year launched the Sh4 billion medical scheme allowing Sh1,350 paid for each student.

Under the programme, each student was supposed to be issued with an NHIF card for use every time they visit hospitals.

The medical insurance is meant to cover all the students in public secondary schools and is both for outpatient and in-patient services for the period students will be in school.

It caters for treatment of all kinds of diseases including cancer and HIV/Aids.

Students are also entitled to surgery, and prosthetic replacements in case of losing a limb during educational activities.

Further, the medical cover takes care of ambulance services and other treatments abroad will be reimbursed.

The scheme has also been extended to cover circumcision for boys who will not have been cut by the time of joining secondary schools.

Last year, the Ministry of Education listed 5,314 accredited health facilities to cover students.

When it was launched, schools were required to choose accredited health facilities near them for their students for out-patient services.

Former NHIF chief executive officer Geoffrey Mwangi had promised that the cards will be processed before the end of last year.

“Before the NHIF processes their cards, learners will be required to get a letter from their principal identifying them as their students,” he said.

However, the acting NHIF CEO Nicholas Odongo said students will only be required to use the electronic database provided by the ministry.

“The health facilities are required to identify the students using data captured in the National Education Management Information System (Nemis).”

Mr Odongo said the Nemis codes are being used instead of the NHIF cards.

OBLIGATIONS

According to the original plan by the ministry, the students were supposed to be issued with the NHIF cards and were to use the Nemis codes temporarily.

Some 300,000 students in 500 secondary schools will not benefit from the Sh2.6 billion funding after the ministry discovered that they had not uploaded their details in Nemis.

Since last year, the representatives of the health facilities and school heads have been holding meetings with the NHIF bosses to discussing on the modalities of rolling out the program.

Mr Odongo yesterday warned health care providers to work closely with NHIF and desist from any un-procedural activities that may lead to fraud.

Should they encounter such cases, they should report to the police or the nearest NHIF offices for necessary action to safeguard the achievements already made in the expansion and delivery of quality healthcare services.

“NHIF is cognizant of the key role being played by the health care providers across the country in fulfilling their contractual obligations to the fund. This is a heavy responsibility requiring total commitment to safeguard lives of members through provision of quality health care services,” said the NHIF acting CEO.

He said NHIF will not hesitate to take action against hospitals found perpetrating fraud in accordance with the law and existing contracts.

Mr Odongo said added service providers have a responsibility to ensure sustainability of the national health insurance cover by strict adherence to the law and contractual obligations.