The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) will from next financial year roll out a pre-retirement medical scheme for retiring civil servants.
A team of officers from the government led by Humphrey Sakala from NHIF told civil servants in Iten that plans are at an advanced stage to roll out the scheme saying treasury had already provided Shs.1 billion for the scheme.
The officers were told that a Cabinet memo had already been prepared and was only awaiting approval saying the scheme will go a long way in catering for the health needs of civil servants once they retire.
They were however told that contributions to the scheme was not yet determined but will depend on the years a civil servant has left before exiting the service.
The civil servants had raised concerns over the lack of a comprehensive health insurance scheme for retired civil servants forcing them to rely on the Sh. 6000 per year which is not comprehensive.
In a bid to address the problem of lack of drugs in most public health facilities, Daisy Chepkoech said plans are under way to have accredited pharmacists where civil servants can get drugs and NHIF pays for the same saying for now they are allowed to get drugs from another facility and bill NHIF.
She added that the Public Service Commission has a fund known as excess of loss fund to cater for officers who have exhausted their annual NHIF limits due to the nature of their illness saying one only needs to formally write to the PSC through their human resource department giving details of the illness to access the exgratia fund.
Ms. Chepkoech, who is a medic, called on officers and their spouses to go for annual health checkups even when they are not sick which will be paid for by NHIF so that in case of an ailment it can be treated early saying most go to hospital when diseases which could be treated have reached chronic stage.
She also advised the officers to avoid seeking treatment in high end private hospitals which charge expensively unless there is no alternative saying this will ensure that they don’t exhaust their annual limits.
By Alice Wanjiru
