Cotu rejects new National Hospital Insurance Fund proposals

Mercy Mwai @wangumarci

A storm is brewing over the proposed amendments to the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) that will henceforth require every Kenyan to make a compulsory contribution of Sh500 per month.

 The Central Organisation of Trade Unions (Cotu) and its 45 affiliates are the first to oppose the said amendments, terming them as illegal.

 Part of the amendments the parties are objected to include mandatory contribution, conversion of the fund to a scheme as well as failure to conduct public participation and stakeholder engagement. 

In a statement to newsrooms yesterday, Cotu-K Secretary General Francis Atwoli claimed the amendment, which seeks to convert the fund to a scheme, would essentially disband NHIF and bring up an amorphous body with a new mandate and new objective.

  “Following a meeting held today at the Solidarity Building, Cotu (K) headquarters, we would like to state that Cotu (K) and all the 45 affiliate unions, and by extension, the over four million Cotu (K) members, strongly oppose the amendments as contained in the NHIF (Amendment) Bill, 2021, in totality,” reads the statement. 

“We demand that the government should stop any move aimed at interfering with NHIF structure and objective and that if the government is in dire need of a scheme, the government creates its separate healthcare scheme,” adds the statement.