Teachers demand medical cover by next month

The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) is now pushing for a comprehensive medical cover for all 288,000 teachers and they want it implemented by September 1.

Union Secretary General Wilson Sossion said yesterday teachers are overburdened by huge medical bills and asked the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to 'hasten the process' of implementing the new medical scheme for teachers.

"We are demanding that TSC expedites the process of identifying a medical service provider to bail out teachers from these huge expenses," he said.

Sossion said teachers are currently disposing off their property at 'throw-away prices' to finance their health care needs and that of their families. "We have agreed on the most effective model that is cost-effective and can give the highest value to the teachers of Kenya. What we now want is a service provider to manage it," he said.

TSC Secretary Gabriel Lengoiboni told the House Education Committee that the commission shall award a tender to one firm soon. "We have called for expression of interest and in due course, we shall award the tender to one of the successful applicants to roll out the medical scheme," said Lengoiboni.

He said TSC decided to competitively source for providers of the medical scheme because of the challenges that emerged regarding the management of public service medical scheme. The expression of interest was advertised on July 4, 2014. However, Sossion yesterday complained the scheme is taking too long. He was speaking yesterday after a meeting to review the Knut strategic plan for the next five years.