The Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Social Health Authority (SHA) management are seeking to resolve persistent challenges in the implementation of the comprehensive medical cover for more than 500,000 public school teachers.
The transition from the private AON-Minet scheme to the government-sponsored SHA cover on December 1, 2025, has been marred by complaints, including teachers and their dependents being turned away from private hospitals or being forced to pay out of pocket for services they expected the scheme to cover.
President William Ruto’s administration has employed more than 100,000 teachers in the past three years, with another 20,000 expected to be recruited by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) by the end of this year.
Principal Secretary for Medical Services Ouma Oluga and SHA Chief Executive Officer Mercy Mwangangi represented the government during a meeting with members of Knut’s National Executive Council (NEC), drawn from the union’s eight regions and 47 counties, as well as TSC officials. The meeting ended at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies at the weekend.
“We want to assure teachers that SHA operates as envisaged and that teachers and other Kenyans can access the desired services in public and private hospitals,” Dr Oluga said.
He said the government was committed to operationalising universal healthcare to ensure a healthy and productive population that could drive economic growth.
The authority urged trade unions and members of the public to report hospitals that deny patients services, saying the authority would investigate complaints and take appropriate action against facilities found culpable.
Dr Mwangangi said SHA offices in the counties were being staffed to help address complaints from beneficiaries and healthcare facilities.
“We are working round the clock to address emerging issues relating to meeting the needs of private citizens, public servants and workers in the corporate sector,” she said.
Knut Secretary-General Collins Oyuu and national chairman Patrick Karinga said SHA needed to improve service delivery and expand the number of facilities offering services to teachers.
“There are hospitals listed as providers for teachers that are turning them away or failing to offer the services sought. This should be reviewed, and more facilities on-boarded to widen the network,” Mr Oyuu said.
Teachers have repeatedly complained that the SHA cover, despite being described as comprehensive, is less reliable than the previous AON-Minet scheme, with problems taking too long to resolve.
Knut Deputy Secretary-General Hezbon Otieno said the union and SHA were working to resolve outstanding concerns about services provided by hospitals across the country.
He said teachers and their dependents had repeatedly encountered difficulties accessing treatment at facilities they had reported to government agencies and SHA, with little apparent action taken.
“We are faced with a situation where teachers and their dependents have not been treated in hospitals where they have gone for treatment and are forced to pay for all or some of the services in cash. This has caused a lot of stress to teachers in the country,” Knut First National Vice-Chairman Malel Langat said.
Mr Langat also called for more rehabilitation centres to be included in the provider network to ensure teachers and their dependents could access specialised support and treatment.
He said changes to the new contract’s benefit package had created uncertainty over access to rehabilitation services, particularly in rural areas.
“The new contract benefit package for teachers does not have rehabilitation under Level Three facilities. All rehabilitation centres have been pushed to Level 4(b) in the new contract, starting this month (October),” he said.
Mr Langat warned that the changes could prevent teachers from accessing services at Level Three rehabilitation centres, many of which serve rural communities where teachers and their dependents live and work.
The union also raised concerns over unpaid claims from the previous contract, saying some hospitals had cited outstanding payments from SHA for services already provided. Knut called for the arrears to be settled to prevent facilities from denying treatment to teachers and their dependents.
The union further wants the reinstatement of ex-gratia payments and group life insurance benefits for teachers and their beneficiaries, including spouses and other family members. These benefits, which were available under the AON-Minet scheme, were scrapped under the new arrangement, according to the union.
The previous cover also provided funeral expenses and disability benefits, which Knut says are missing from the current package.
Lawrence Owino, a senior director at TSC who represented Chief Executive Officer Evaleen Mitei, told the meeting that the commission was addressing concerns over ex-gratia claims and group life benefits, including payments to the families of deceased teachers.
The meeting resolved that KNUT, SHA, TSC and the Ministry of Health would establish committees at national and county levels to address emerging challenges in implementing the medical scheme and develop immediate and long-term solutions.
The committees are expected to help resolve access problems, improve coordination with healthcare providers and ensure teachers and their dependents receive the services covered under the scheme.
