TSC reaches out to national health insurer for staff cover

The government is seeking to engage the national health insurer to give all teachers a comprehensive medical cover.

Teachers are currently covered by insurance broker Minet Kenya, whose contract ends in September.

The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) has written to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) asking for a quote as it plans to give all teachers in public service, their spouses and their children a comprehensive health cover.

The sought-after services include inpatient, outpatient, dental, optical, group life and last expenses for principal members.

MINET

“We would like to explore the possibility of providing an enhanced comprehensive medical cover to teachers and their dependents. Your proposal will set the stage for further discussions on this matter,” said TSC chief executive Nancy Macharia in a June 18 confidential letter to NHIF boss Nicodemus Ondogo.

But the letter said the request for a quote should not be misconstrued to mean that the commission will not renew Minet’s contract.

Ms Macharia said the contract will be given openly and competitively.

TSC is one of the country’s largest employers, with 318,000 teachers on its payroll and a dependent population of about one million.

CONTRACT

According to Minet, which has been running the insurance contract since 2015, malaria is ranked first among the top 15 ailments that take teachers to hospital followed by gastric disorders, pneumonia, respiratory tract infections and fractures.

It said about 5,000 teachers were admitted to hospital monthly.

The broker had also partnered with NHIF to insure more than 12 million private and public school learners.

Teachers’ unions had expressed dissatisfaction with the health cover, citing failure by many hospitals to offer services with authority from the broker.