Ministry of Education faces more financial pressure, with teachers demanding National Treasury releases Sh11 billion for a medical insurance scheme.

The demand from the Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) adds to the growing list of claims that the Treasury has not satisfied.

The union also complained that the Treasury had failed to remit at least 50 percent of capitation for Free Day Secondary Education.

Under that programme, the government allocates money to schools for free primary, junior, and secondary education.

The funds are supposed to be released in instalments, with schools receiving a portion of them each term.

On money for medical services, Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima claimed hospitals had been turning away teachers seeking care in the past six months or demanding out-of-pocket payments.

Nthurima’s assertion came hours after Medical Administrators Kenya Ltd (MAKL), which manages the teachers’ medical scheme, announced that teachers could now get specialised medical services at 17 newly designated referral hospitals.

This is meant to enhance the referral system and improve healthcare access, and has the approval of the Teachers Service Commission.

Preferred facilities

Although MAKL assured teachers that they will still be able to receive treatment at primary healthcare facilities, teachers have complained that they were not getting care at their preferred facilities.

“The crisis lies squarely at the door of the National Treasury, which has not remitted funds to the underwriter for two quarters,” said Nthurima.

He added that the last time funds were released to the underwriter was in September following the return-to-work consent signed between KUPPET and the TSC to end the August-September industrial action.

The strike was in response to budget cuts for the medical scheme and withdrawal of services by hospitals due to persistent Treasury delays in disbursing the funds, KUPPET said.

“Teachers’ health is paramount. Delaying their access to medical care is a violation of their right to healthcare and flies in the face of the right to human dignity. Teachers’ health is also a major determinant of their productivity at work,” Nthurima said.

He went on: “We urge the Treasury to urgently release the funds which are a component of teachers’ salaries – having been hived off from the medical allowances that teachers earned before the scheme was introduced.”

School capitation

Teachers, he added, were being denied services at selected medical facilities because of delayed disbursements to the underwriter.

The teachers’ medical scheme includes 146 public hospitals, 133 mission hospitals, and 63 anchor clinics run by Bliss Healthcare, along with 487 private hospitals under MAKL.

On school capitation funds, Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba assured the public in December that they would be disbursed before schools reopened in January. The government has since released Sh19 billion, with educations officials saying another Sh14 billion is being processed and is expected to be released by the end the week.

The Ministry of Education says the delay was prompted by a cash crunch in the government.

“The disbursement is ongoing under instalment because of the financial challenges being experienced by the government, but we are ensuring that the capitation is released so that schools can continue operating,” Ogamba said.

He went on: “This week, some Sh14 billion is being processed and we hope they will be disbursed before the end of the week.”

As January ended, public schools had not received funds for the Free Day Secondary Education programme.