Tutors' unions, TSC to meet over medical scheme row

Teachers’ unions will meet the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) tomorrow amid rising disquiet over the planned migration of more than 400,000 teachers from the Minet-administered medical scheme to the government-run Social Health Authority (SHA).

The meeting comes just three weeks before the expiry of the current medical scheme on November 30.

A letter from TSC, dated November 7 and addressed to Kenya Union of Post-Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Secretary-General Akelo Misori, confirms the meeting will take place at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi.

The Sunday Standard has established that a similar invitation has been extended to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) and the Kenya Union of Special Needs Education Teachers (Kusnet).

“Further to our ongoing consultations on the medical scheme for teachers under SHA, I wish to invite you to the next round of engagements at Safari Park Hotel, Nairobi, on November 10, 2025, at 8.30 am. You may be accompanied by 19 officials from the Union,” the TSC letter reads.

The communication follows weeks of anxiety within the teaching fraternity, with unions accusing the government of keeping them in the dark on the transition that was ordered by President William Ruto after meeting teacher representatives at State House on September 13.

The President directed the Ministry of Education, SHA, and unions to jointly review the scheme.

While pushing for the transition, Ruto questioned the cost and efficiency of the Minet cover, comparing it to other public medical schemes.

“Access to inpatient services by teachers is lower than the market. Data shows that on average it costs Sh117,000 per inpatient visit, whereas the market average is Sh100,000, and for civil servants it is Sh98,000. That means you pay more on every visit, so we cannot continue with this medical cover as it is,” President Ruto said.

But on Friday, Kuppet asked for clarity and comprehensive details on what the new cover will entail.

Misori said TSC has been making announcements through the media but has not provided unions with any formal briefing on the new scheme after a meeting of the union’s National Governing Council.

Kuppet says it will seek clarity on capitation levels, the benefit structure, a list of accredited hospitals and how authorisation and referral procedures will operate under SHA.

“The Commission claims that the new scheme is ready for implementation, yet it has not shared any details with the union as required under public participation principles,” Misori said.

He added that the union will not accept a scheme that offers less than what teachers currently enjoy under Minet.

“The union demands that any new scheme must build upon the services currently offered under Minet and be comprehensive. The union will demand information on capitation levels, conditions of service, authorisation terms and indeed all conditions under the new scheme.”

In a phone interview, Knut Secretary-General Collins Oyuu said the union is still waiting for TSC to provide full documentation on how the new scheme will work.

Knut has indicated it wants a full report detailing the benefits under SHA and a comparison with the current Minet arrangement to confirm if the new scheme will match or improve current services.

“We are still consulting with the Teachers Service Commission to have a breakdown of the benefits. TSC must tell us what is better with SHA as opposed to what was being offered by Minet. We must also dig deep into what shall be given to us in a comprehensive report,” Oyuu said.

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adding that unions need to be convinced that the new cover is better:

On October 31, Public Service CS Felix Koskei announced he had received a report evaluating the planned migration to SHA’s medical cover.

“Received an update from the Joint Technical Committee of the Teachers Service Commission and the Social Health Authority on preparations for the TSC migration to the Public Officers Medical Scheme Fund scheduled for 1 December.”Kosgei wrote in a post on his official Facebook page.

Sources indicate the report was prepared by a joint team drawn from TSC and SHA.

According to TSC Acting CEO Everleen Mitei, teachers will be absorbed into SHA beginning December 1, 2025.

“It is proposed that teachers will be onboarded to the new scheme under SHA from December 1, 2025, once all consultations and frameworks are finalized,” Mitei told the National Assembly Education Committee in September.

Mitei said the current Minet scheme remains active until November 30 to ensure uninterrupted services.

The current Minet-administered medical scheme covers more than 1.3 million beneficiaries, including over 400,000 teachers, 230,000 spouses and 677,000 children.

Under the current scheme, teachers are entitled to inpatient cover ranging from Sh1 million for those in Job Group B5 to Sh3 million for those in Job Group D5.

The package also provides outpatient cover based on job group, maternity services, dental and optical care, emergency evacuation and funeral benefits.