Updating the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) records and proper documentation have been fronted as the key to unlocking injury claims as well as accessing quality and improved health services.
Team Leader Principal Occupational Safety Mr. David Ochien’g while addressing Migori Civil Servants said that it was important for civil servants to understand what is required in any medical scheme in order to successfully claim their injury and other medical benefits.
Ochien’g acknowledged that already six groups from National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and medical stakeholders have been deployed country-wide to sensitise civil servants on various NHIF medical schemes.
The officer called upon the civil servants to enlighten the public on the culture of medical savings to cushion the public from incurring more expenses in their old age. Ochien’g said that it was so painful to invest the retirement-earned money in health matters as opposed to putting it to developmental and economic use.
He said that a country is better off with a healthier population that can steer economic growth as opposed to a sick one depleting the existing resources which are allocated to medical budgetary allocations.
“Let our people have a culture of saving in order for them to enjoy better health services during their sunset days”, noted Ochien’g.
The officer asked for patience from those that have not yet been paid their injury claims, especially those categorised as historical claims recorded from 2018 to April 2021.
Migori County Commissioner Mr. Meru Mwangi lauded the sensitisation seminar that aimed to give more information on the NHIF injury and accident schemes that the majority did not know more about.
Equipped with information on NHIF benefits and schemes, Meru noted that the civil servants will be in a better position to make informed decisions that will be key to their healthy development.
Mwangi urged the NHIF to always consult with the public first instead of making unilateral decisions that do not benefit the population. He said that public participation was key to unlocking key decisions and ideas that can improve the NHIF scheme.
The administrator also added that the NHIF sensitisation process will ensure the beneficiaries make decisions based on a point of knowledge that will motivate them to even save more.
Mwangi however, called upon the actors and implementers of NHIF to take a short time in implementing the public participation proposals to make the scheme more effective.
With the Migori population projected to reach 1.3 Million in 2023 from 1.2 Million in 2019, Mwangi noted that it was in the best interest of the public to have a medical scheme to address issues of easier accessibility and quality health services from health providers.
The six-team that will be touring the country for NHIF sensitisation exercises will focus on Group Life Insurance, Last Mile, Work Injury Benefit, and Group Person Accident Insurance schemes for Civil Servants.
By Geoffrey Makokha
