Doctors’ one-month ultimatum over comprehensive medical insurance
Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentist's Union (KMPDU) officials (from left), Dr Miskellah Dennis (Deputy Secretary General), Dr Davji Bhimji (Secretary General) and Dr Kizito Shisanya (chair of the legal committee), during a press briefing on the Social Health Insurance Act 2023 at the Union's headquarters along Kindaruma Lane Nairobi on November 9, 2023.
Healthcare workers have issued a one-month ultimatum to the government demanding the reinstatement of their medical allowance or, in its place, an enhanced medical cover for civil servants in the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), set to replace the repealed NHIF.
Failure to do so, they said, the doctors will call for a nationwide strike.
In a petition addressed to the Ministry of Health, the Kenya Medical Practitioners Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU) highlighted that the enhanced medical cover under the NHIF was cancelled despite it being the best and not making any loss.
The petition, signed by Dennis Miskellah, the deputy secretary general of KMPDU, explained that with the NHIF enhanced cover, healthcare workers could access all the services they needed in any facility across the country.
He questioned why the cover was discontinued, leading to healthcare workers now having to plead for treatment, a problem compounded by the removal of the medical allowance.
“Why scrap it off? Now doctors have to beg to be treated! Include this in SHIF or face a national strike,” Dr Miskellah said.
Dr Miskellah noted that the directive by the State instructing employers to cover their employees was far-fetched.
“You cannot take away the comprehensive cover from those who have it; instead have those without it covered. And if it is equity, why are we having the poor pay annually with claims that the government will loan those unable to pay? Why loan me to get treatment and I pay back? You will be shocked, wait until you are denied services, then you will know equity is neither here nor there,” Dr Miskellah said.
He adds the healthcare workers who are the backbone of SHIF, with a threat to withhold services that they cannot afford.
“We can’t, and we will not. You either give them a better cover or we will not offer the services that we cannot afford to Kenyans. If I am a doctor and can’t get treatment whenever I am unwell, how do you expect me to treat my patients?” he posed
“We want our medical allowance back if they cannot give us enhanced cover,” he added.
Under the Schedule Five clause of the transition, at the end of each contract, services under the old scheme, including the Comprehensive Cover for Civil Servants, are stopped.
“Our employer as civil servants is the government. The government cannot wake up take away our medical cover and tell us to talk to the same government to look for private insurance to cover us. You cannot take public money and pool it into a private unit. What are they trying to do?” asked Dr Miskellah.
He gave an example of Kenyatta National Hospital healthcare workers, who he says now have to be covered under a private scheme unless the NHIF transition to SHIF is well managed.
He demanded that the government use the Kenya Medical Practitioners Dentists Council register to list the hospitals and medics under the new scheme, instead of requiring completely fresh registrations.
“We thought that with the register on the number of hospitals registered by the KMPDC, it would have been to bring the facilities on board, rather than having to go through the registration afresh. The NHIF had the records of Kenyans registered, why apply afresh? This is a waste of resources,” he said
He warned of a possible clash for resources in the event that public and private hospitals fight for funds under the Primary Care Fund.
“Of course, the well-equipped private hospitals cannot compete with the neglected public hospitals; the private will outshine them. This is a taxpayer fund and it should not be domiciled in the authority. If they are to compete, how are we going to improve our public facilities?” questioned Dr Miskellah.
He said the primary fund should be treated the same way the Constituency Development Fund is being distributed, only to constituencies.
“If we want to improve quality services in public hospitals, then the money should only be reserved for public hospitals. Let facilities employ health care workers, buy equipment and reagents such that anytime Kenyans get to the facilities they get quality services,” Dr Miskellah said.
