AoN Minet Under Fire As Teachers Move To Court
Some teachers have now filed a lawsuit in response to what they claim are watered-down services, including some hospitals’ refusal to treat them.
Following the filing of a lawsuit by some tutors who claim they are not receiving value for their money and that the services are of poor quality, details of the multibillion-shilling instructors’ health insurance cover have come to light.
The teachers are now requesting that Minet Kenya Insurance Brokers Limited be forced to ensure that the primary service provider provides quality services to match the Sh51.4 billion allotted to it by the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
Additionally, the instructors claim that the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) gave Sh60 million to a “ghost” business for actuarial services without putting out a request for bids.
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Sh51.4 billion of the Sh53 billion total contractual sum agreed upon by Minet and TSC has been allotted to the master capitator, Bliss Health Care Services.
The teachers, under the leadership of Mathai Boniface Ndirangu, submitted a tabulation of the three-year contract between TSC and Minet before Justice Bernard Odongo Manani Matanga, outlining how Bliss will spend the Sh51 billion. TSC and Minet Kenya have been nominated as respondents by the petitioners.
According to the three-year contract, Bliss has allotted Sh32 billion for outpatient care, Sh13.6 billion for inpatient care, Sh2.07 billion for maternity services, Sh1.3 billion for dental care, Sh2.2 million for eye care, and Sh179 million for evacuation services.
Minet has raised objections to the petition, claiming that there is no employer-employee relationship between the business and the teachers to support bringing legal action against them in the employment court.
However, the teachers contend that because Minet entered into a contract with their employer, TSC, they can legitimately be sued. They have informed Justice Matanga that the matter is legitimately in his hands because it was submitted to him by the Constitutional Court, which hears cases involving rights.
Therefore, according to the petitioners, “there is no reason why teachers should be turned away or asked to top-up by a medical administrator brought on board by Bliss.”
Teachers enjoy unlimited in-patient and out-patient benefits but must pay a Sh100 co-pay before receiving services.
The court has been informed that TSC pays a business they claim is phoney Sh20 million annually for actuarial services.
They say that the teachers who will pay Sh3 billion of the contractual Sh53 billion for a way to identify them when they visit Bliss hospitals for treatment can be issued job and medical cards using the Sh60 million allotted for the services. There are no identity cards for teachers’ jobs.
The irate instructors claim that Medical Administrators (K) Limited (MAKL) was hired by Minet to guarantee that they are not turned away from hospitals, however Mr. Mathai claims he was recently denied treatment at Guru Nanak Hospital because he was improperly recognised.
According to additional information provided to the court, MAKL and Bliss are “one and the same in terms of ownership, yet they are paid separately.”
Teachers have also accused TSC of breaking Article 277 (1) by including Star Discover Insurance Limited and Star Discover Life Insurance in the list of businesses that would compete for the Sh53 billion contract even though they were only six months established and did not yet have the legal competence to do so.
According to the petitioners, Star Discover Life Insurance, Star Discover Insurance Limited, and MAKL all have the same physical address (ARC Place Nyangumi Road) and postal address number (Nyayo Stadium) as stated in the contract agreements.
According to Mr. Mathai’s declaration, “this implies that the three companies are owned by the same individual and are operated out of the same office and location.”
Infuriatingly, Mr. Mathai claims that teachers are not requesting that the contract be terminated but rather that the court issue directives to streamline the permission procedure.
AoN Minet Under Fire As Teachers Move To Court
