President William Ruto declared that the rejection of the Social Health Authority (SHA) medical insurance cover by teachers and civil servants is not organic, but an agenda pushed by individuals.
Speaking at the World Health Summit on Monday, April 27, President Ruto claimed that moguls were using the media to paint a picture that SHA was being turned down.
He claimed some shrewd businessmen were trying to make SHA look dysfunctional to push the government to revert to the NHIF, from which they allegedly reaped big money through fraud.
“In one of the Kenyan newspapers, there is a big headline saying how teachers and civil servants have rejected our health system. That headline is not coming from the civil servants or teachers.
“It is coming from business interests; people who have been benefiting from health insurance before,” Ruto stated.
The Head of State added that since the government moved teachers to SHA, it has saved Ksh7.7 billion dollars (USD60 million) in teachers’ insurance alone.
He claimed that those fighting SHA were protecting their share of the multibillion-shilling loot, and stated that he was ready to pay the price for saving taxpayers’ money.
“We used to spend USD200 million on teachers alone every year; today we spend only USD140 million. We have saved USD60 million. The fellows who used to make the USD 60 million are the ones sponsoring the headlines because they have lost business.
“This is the kind of resistance you go through when you make the changes that create impact,” Ruto added.
The President added that SHA offered more perks to teachers than NHIF, including higher daily limits, access to 6,000 medical centres and access to all level-six hospitals.
Meanwhile, teachers under the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET) have staged protests to air their grievances over SHA.
They decried that SHA was not working for them and even argued that the previous provider, Minet, was better off.
KUPPET teachers claimed that the majority of hospitals in the country did not accept SHA, and that the limits under the insurance were too low.
