The Kenya Medical and Dentists Practitioners Union (KMPDU), on Tuesday evening, disputed the rollout of the new health insurance scheme, the Social Health Insurance Fund(SHIF), maintaining that the scheme is set for a collapse.
In a statement, KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah maintained that the scheme was set to deny Kenyans access to medical care even as the government continued the rollout program despite protests from key stakeholders such as the doctor’s union.
‘’We have repudiated the act from November 2023 with one message, “It will deny Kenyans access to healthcare,’’ maintained Atellah.
‘’The Social Health Insurance Fund is a capsizing ship! There is too much bilge water for it to sail.”
KUCO General Secretary and CEO George Gibore (centre) with KMPDU Secretary General Davji Atellah (left) and officials from the unions.
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KMPDU
Atellah added that the now defunct health insurance scheme, the National Health Insurance Fund(NHIF), was way superior to all other medical insurance schemes currently offered to Kenyans.
The KMPDU boss also read malice on the payment component of the new scheme noting that it was subject to fraud.
He added that the stoppage of NHIF was designed to benefit private insurance companies operating in the country.
‘’A social insurance law with a co-payment component is a fraud. We have consistently warned that the comprehensive medical package provided by NHIF was superior to all other private sector insurance plans,’’ he explained.
According to KMPDU, the new scheme will wreak havoc on civil servants as they are set to dig deeper into their pockets in contributions to the fund.
The medical union added that they had initially relinquished their medical allowances that they were receiving from their employer for a comprehensive medical cover only to be met by the new medical scheme, which they maintain will not be of good use to them.
‘’For civil servants, this is a double robbery and tragedy that we cannot take lying down. We relinquished our medical allowance for comprehensive medical cover, which has now been removed, and yet we are expected to pay five times more. This is insane,’’ KMPDU stated.
The union also took issue with Members of Parliament for having given a nod to the new scheme without considering the implications it was set to pose to Kenyans.
‘’We have taken this fight to the courts, including the Court of Appeal. Even the MPs who passed this Act seem oblivious to its consequences. With the current SHIF tariffs, everyone will be forced to dig deeper into their pockets to access care. Public healthcare is being intentionally defunded and made dysfunctional,’’ the union added.
KMPDU officials led by Secretary General Davji Atellah addressing the media on January 6, 2023.
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KMPDU
