Baby boom era: New data shows increase of children among tutors

A patient is being examined by a doctor in the hospital. [Getty Images]

The teaching fraternity is witnessing a baby boom era with data from the teachers’ medical cover showing some 125,494 births in the last seven years.

In the report seen by The Standard, titled TSC Utilisation Summary Report, the cover’s biggest utilisation on maternity services was in 2021/22 period with a total of 27,445 visits.

The maternity visits in 2020/21 was (21,342), 2019/20 (16,053), 2018/2019 (19,331), 2017/18 (24,186), 2016/17 (13,169) and the least number of maternity visits was in 2015/16 (3,968).

The increase in the number of children ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000213193/student-who-got-his-teacher-pregnant-given-sh600-million-compensation">among the teaching fraternity< comes at a time the employer - Teachers Service Commission - has improved maternity terms for its employees under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The agreement extended the number of maternity leave period to four months while paternity leave is three weeks.

The medical scheme is administered by Minet Kenya. TSC contracted the insurer on July 1, 2015 to manage the scheme. The tender was renewed on December 1, 2022 and is expected to offer a comprehensive medical insurance cover for over 341,837 public school teachers for a three-year period.

Over the 17 years, the number of those covered by the scheme reached 727,123 members, but that number rose to 1,229,504 by 2022 with the members visiting hospitals at least 13 million times to seek medical care over the same period.

These visits include inpatient, outpatient, dental and optical treatment, maternity and delivery cases; and overseas treatment.

The members mainly utilised the cover for outpatient visits with a total of 12,120,632 visits over the seven years the cover has been active.

The highest number of outpatient visits was in 2015/16 at 2,207,582 visits; 2016/17 (1,997,463), in 2017/18 (1,597,313), 2018/19 (1,631,413), 2019/20 (1,305,010), 2020/21 (1,673,440), 2021/22 (1,708,411).

The report also shows that the members made a total of 498,202 visits for dental care; the number of dental visits has been on the rise with highest being 2021/22 (99,893).

For optical services, the beneficiaries had ="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/rift-valley/article/2001439180/how-sex-pest-of-a-tutor-lured-disabled-student-impregnated-her">made 587,503 visits< in the last seven years.

The data also reveals that the teaching fraternity witnessed 1,457 deaths between 2020 and 2021 making it the worst grief-stricken year, according to data from their medical insurer.

This also coincides with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic that claimed over 41 teachers possibly hinting to the sharp increase in the number of deaths in the same period.

The report shows some 7,442 beneficiaries of the teachers’ medical cover have lost their lives since the scheme’s inception in 2015.

It shows that under group life and last expense, the number of teachers dying has been an average of 1,000 each year with exception of 2020/21.