Drama unfolded as irate teachers stormed the Minet Insurance Company office in Kakamega Town on Wednesday, July 17 and locked it up.
The teachers, who are members of the Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (KUPPET), accused the insurance broker of alleged negligence, which they claim resulted in the deaths of at least two colleagues.
Led by Kakamega KUPPET Branch Executive Secretary Harrison Otota, they asserted that two members had died due to the unavailability of prescribed medications at local hospitals accredited by Minet.
The teachers also highlighted delays in the approval of medical treatments for educators by the health insurance company.
“We buried two teachers last week, one was suffering from bipolar and died because there were no drugs and another died because Minet failed to approve his treatment and he was unable to get insulin injections to stabilize diabetes and we buried them. This cannot go on,” said Mr. Otota.
At the same time, KUPPET Kakamega Branch Chairman Johnston Wabuti, said they have written to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) demanding withdrawal of their medical insurance services from the company for what he termed as negligence and incompetence.
“We are demanding TSC to enlist all Kakamega teachers on the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) as opposed to Minet because we cannot be losing our teachers due to lack of services like drugs and yet teachers are paying for medical services,
“There is no way a teacher can go without drugs for treating bipolar illness for a whole month to the point of dying, if teachers cannot be attended to as required in hospitals, we demand TSC to terminate our contract with Minet to prevent unnecessary deaths,” said Wabuti.
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He said despite a discussion they had with the company on area of improvement the health insurance company has failed to implement issues raised by the tutors.
“Teachers do not want Minet and they prefer being listed on a comprehensive medical cover,” said Wabuti.
Officials at Minet branch office promised to furnish journalists with information but by the time of going to press, they had not responded.
By Frank Mugwe
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