Blow to teachers, police as private hospitals announce services suspension from Monday
RUPHA revealed that up to 54 per cent of hospitals are yet to receive payment from SHA while 89 per cent of the facilities have reported failures of the portal while 83 per cent have difficulties in verifying the eligibility of the patients due to system glitches
Woes for police officers and teachers will worsen on Monday after the Rural and Urban Private Hospitals (RUPHA) announced its members will discontinue provision of services under medical schemes managed byMedical Administrators Kenya Limited (MAKL).
Led by RUPHA Chairman Brian Lishenga, they called on the government to settle the Sh30 billion arrears the defunct NHIF owed private hospitals.
“Without urgent intervention teachers and police officers will be left without quality healthcare service,” Lishenga stated.
This comes after last week the Kenya Prison officers and staff of Kenya Prisons Service were hit by medical paralysis after Medical Administrators Kenya Limited (MAKL) suspended services in various hospitals over unpaid debts by the government.
Prison warders in job group A-K were the most affected as Nairobi West Hospital and Top Hill Hospital in Eldoret have announced the suspension of all medical services to the officers.
In a notice to regional commanders dated February 7, 2024, Senior Assistant Commissioner General of Prisons Henry Kisingu advised the warders to seek services at the corporate section of the Kenyatta National Hospital and the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital for those in Eldoret.
The statement by Kisingu came after a source previously indicated that various hospitals accredited to offer medical services to Kenya Prison officers, National Police Service, and teachers were turning them away due to unremitted funds for health insurance covers.
MAKL announced the suspension of services to hospitals due to unremitted finances by Teachers Service Commission (TSC), the National Police Service (NPS) and Kenya Prisons Service.
TSC boss Nancy Macharia said they are yet to receive money from the National Treasury.
MAKL is the administrator contracted by MINNET a consortium of insurance companies responsible for medical services to NPS, Kenya Prison staff and officers, and teachers.
Teachers now have since called for a permanent solution over their medical insurance to avoid being turned away over unremitted claims.
The Kenya National Union of Teachers (KNUT) Secretary General Collins Oyuu, said there should be constant release of funds by the National treasury to their employer TSC who remits the money to MINNET.
Oyuu stated it is hard seeing his colleagues suffer for being turned away by hospitals because their health allowance has not been paid.
“The periodical non-payment of medical covers for teachers needs to stop. We want permanent solutions to end this. There should be constant remittance of money to TSC by the national government then TSC pays MINNET who then pay their contracted administrators,” Oyuu stated.
“That will help cater to the suffering of teachers because we are not here to see teachers suffer,” he added.
The tutors union SG revealed that as of last month, hospitals like AGC Tenwek in Kericho, Siloam, Raele in Uasin Gishu, and Kisii referral Hospital turned away the teachers over the pending bills owed to the hospitals by MAKL; the administrator contracted by MINNET.
Further, RUPHA has also announced the suspension of Social Health Authority (SHA) services starting Monday citing continued ignorance by the government in ironing out existing challenges.
Patients visiting the hospitals will now be required to pay in cash.
Lishenga stated that challenges surrounding the new healthcare system have been ignored, endangering the lives of patients adding that this has threatened the survival of their facilities due to weak service provision.
RUPHA revealed that up to 54 per cent of hospitals are yet to receive payment from SHA while 89 per cent of the facilities have reported failures of the portal while 83 per cent have difficulties in verifying the eligibility of the patients due to system glitches.
The hospitals stated that the most significant glitch has been the prolonged downtime of the SHA system with delays in OTP verifications and the inability to track claims with the matter worsening over the last month.
“Hospitals are facing bank defaults and have stock outs for essential medicines with many consultants having not been paid for years now. The debts go back to up to 2017,” Lishenga stated.
Since the inception of SHA in October last year, it has been rocked with challenges with Kenyans complaining of its inefficiencies.
