Civil servants have threatened to terminate the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) scheme citing misappropriation and poor service delivery.
Through the Union of Kenya Civil Servants (UKCS), Secretary General Tom Odege, they said the comprehensive medical cover of the national insurer has continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate as members are denied services.
The union which wants to resort to a private insurance provider has expressed confidence of securing a better and credible cover compared to the state-run insurer which boasts of seven million members.
“NHIF has failed to provide a transparent and accountable administrative model that will ensure scheme members will access the services in accordance to the provisions of the signed contract,” said the notice to the Ministry of Public Service.
As the ministry which signed the Sh4 billion a year contract on behalf of the government for a scheme negotiated by the UKCS, Odege pointed out that the scheme has failed to provide a transparent and accountable administrative model.
“Seven years down the line, it is unfortunate that NHIF cannot ensure that the scheme members access the services in accordance to the provisions of the signed contract,” Odege said in a protest letter.
The civil servants’ union called for an urgent meeting to deliberate on the process of securing a private firm or consortium of firms to administer comprehensive cover for the over 50,000 members.
“We are determined to embark on early talks before the end of the financial year to provide enough time to identify a suitable administrator,” Odege said.
In spite of the clear provisions of the contract, the UKCS boss noted, scheme members have either failed to access services or being forced to pay for the services.
In a letter to the Directorate of Principal Administrative Secretary of the Directorate of Personnel Management Mary Kimonye, he accused the ministry and the national insurer of failing to acknowledge receipt of numerous correspondences.
“The union will no longer sit back and watch as the NHIF kills a noble idea muted by the union and government officials who had a clear foresight on how to resolve the high costs of treatments for civil servants who hitherto used to receive a medical allowance,” he said.
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But our effort to get a response from NHIF Corporate Communications officer Eunice Kimondo failed as she did not respond to calls or messages by the time of going to press.
Since 2017, Odege blamed NHIF of unilaterally making decisions that varied the contract to the disadvantage of scheme members.
He cited that most of the affected officers are under the capitation system as efforts by the standing committee to have NHIF conform to the provisions have failed to yield positive results.
“We are also privy to information of fraudulent practices executed by NHIF officers in association with unscrupulous service providers which we have shared with NHIF and the Ministry,” said the letter.
According to the NHIF Act (Clause 22), the fund is mandated to provide social medical insurance cover for both inpatient and outpatient for its members and their declared dependents.
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