Teachers countrywide have come out to resist AON minet medical scheme claiming that they do not obtain adequate medical care from the scheme.
Teachers are now calling upon the abolition of the AON Minet medical scheme for it has failed to provide quality services to teachers and their dependents.
According to Nation media reports, the insurer has refused to pay medical bills forcing teachers to pay for treatment out of their own pockets.
On the other hand, several teachers have tabled their complaints saying that some of the hospitals listed by the scheme are inaccessible to wheelchair-bound patients due to their location in storey buildings. Additionally, other hospitals are far from teachers’ homes.
Teachers further complained that scan approvals take too long. The majority of teachers give up and seek treatment in other hospitals which are not accredited by minet. Some large hospitals can take up to a month to approve for treatment.
The Kenya National Teachers Pressure Group which is made up of teachers from primary, secondary schools as well as teacher training colleges has put pressure on the Teacher Service Commission to suspend the scheme or replace it with a better one.
Martha Omollo, the group spokesperson said that TSC forced teachers to register with the AON minet scheme without allowing teachers to participate in the process of identifying and selecting the scheme administrator and health provider.
According to Ms Omollo Minet, the way the teachers were forced into the AON Minet medical scheme was unconstitutional, and a violation of the TSC Act (2012) and the code of regulations for teachers.
From a reliable source, “TSC has today transfered the Nairobi KNTPG coordinator Madam Martha Omolo from Nairobi to Trans Nzoia county allegedly for speaking up against AoN/Minet. Well ours could be coming too but then what is TSC hiding on behalf of AoN/Minet?
Teachers this is just one extreme extent our employer is ready to take us to in their fight to defend this AoN deal that is worth billions. We will continue to fight as we welcome her to the great Rift Valley.” The source confirmed.
Another teacher also noted that no serious hospital has been approved except a few which are not accessible to all teachers.
Teachers have always complained that some of the approved hospitals lack drugs and qualified doctors while the medical scheme refuses to pay bills for some hospitals in some cases.
The Teachers Service Commission (TSC) supports the medical scheme claiming that it is the best of its kind in the region.