NHIF board sanctions CEO in cancelled medical cover saga
The NHIF building in Nairobi. NHIF’s boardroom wars over a lucrative medical cover for secondary schools have escalated after the directors sanctioned the chief executive officer.
What you need to know:
- The national health insurer’s boardroom wars are over a lucrative medical cover for secondary schools.
- CEO Peter Kamunyo’s cancels the contracts of 17 healthcare service providers for the school cover.
- Board Chairman Lewis Nguyai instructed the CEO to reverse any contract terminated or revoked and follow due process.
The national health insurer’s boardroom wars over a lucrative medical cover for secondary schools have escalated after the directors sanctioned the chief executive officer.
National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) Board Chairman Lewis Nguyai yesterday termed as insubordination CEO Peter Kamunyo’s decision to cancel the contracts of 17 healthcare service providers for the school cover and said the board has called a meeting to hear his explanation.
Mr Nguyai cited section 30 (3) of the NHIF Act, which he claimed gives only the board the mandate to terminate the contract of a health service provider and said the decision must be rescinded “to protect the fund against unnecessary litigation from the affected firms”.
Section 30 of the NHIF Act states: “The board may at any time revoke any empanelment of a healthcare provider under this section.”
Mr Nguyai said when President William Ruto was swearing in the six judges on Wednesday, he emphasised the need to operate within the law, and that NHIF is not an exception.
“The President himself said he will operate within the rule of law. NHIF can, therefore, not be an exception. You cannot just take a pen and chase away service providers in total disregard of the law,” he said.
No response
An internal memo seen by the Nation dated September 7 indicates that Mr Nguyai wrote to the CEO seeking an explanation for the cancellation of the contracts, but by yesterday, the response had yet to be received.
“The purpose of this memo is to request a full list of healthcare providers who in the past nine months have had their contracts terminated or revoked, including the latest list of 17 healthcare providers,” reads part of the memo.
Mr Nguyai instructed the CEO to reverse any contract terminated or revoked and follow due process.
Contacted, Mr Kamunyo said the contracts of the 17 hospitals were not renewed pending completion of investigations.
“The hospitals still form part of the panel of healthcare providers under NHIF and upon completion of investigations, they will be issued with a complete contract,” he said. He also pointed out that other old contracts for 2018-2021 lapsed and NHIF has been renewing them.
Mr Nguyai warned that the CEO’s actions are likely to affect the provision of health services, thus hampering the mandate of the fund in providing universal health coverage.
The cover was introduced by former President Uhuru Kenyatta during his second term as part of his administration’s Big Four Agenda of offering universal health coverage.
The government pays Sh1,350 for each pupil under the EduAfya scheme.
For the easier implementation of the scheme, the Education ministry contracted NHIF to offer medical insurance to learners to ease the burden on parents and guardians.
The amount is deducted from the learners’ capitation to allow them to access outpatient, dental, inpatient, optical, emergency, road rescue and overseas treatment.
This is part of the Sh64.4 billion allocated for free day secondary education for the year to June 2023.
