Relief for KPA workers as State agrees to review medical cover
Dock Workers Union General-Secretary Simon Sang’ during a past press briefing.
A controversial medical scheme for over 5,000 Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) workers is set for review after the Dock Workers Union (DWU) opposed it five months after it s implementation.
DWU Secretary-General Simon Sang said a joint committee comprising union and KPA officials has been formed to review the scheme. Mr Sang applauded the new KPA management for paying heed to the plight of workers.
“We are happy President William Ruto met with us to address matters regarding our workers at the port and one of the issues was the newly introduced medical scheme. We hope in the next few days the matter will be resolved,” said Mr Sang during Labour Day celebrations at the Tononoka grounds yesterday.
KPA had proposed that lower cadre staff would get Sh230,000 outpatient services per family, Sh2.5 million for inpatient, Sh40,000 for optical, Sh30,000 for dental, Sh100,000 for maternity and Sh100,000 for rehabilitation.
Management staff were allocated Sh250,000 for outpatient per family, Sh3.2 million for inpatient, Sh40,000 for optical, Sh30,000 for dental, Sh110,000 and Sh100,000 for rehabilitation.
Those in executive positions were to get Sh350,000 per outpatient services, Sh5 million for inpatient, Sh50,000 for optical, Sh40,000 for dental, Sh130,000 for maternity and Sh100,000 for rehabilitation.
The services were to be available to employees as principal members and dependants up to the age of 25 years. The inpatient cover was to include pre-existing and chronic conditions.
But the union now says that the new medical scheme is being implemented in an inhumane way and should be abolished immediately. Mr Sang noted that it was wrong to discharge a worker from the intensive care unit at a superior health facility and put them in an ambulance only to dump them in another facility “to die.”
“We need a medical scheme that will cater to the needs of our members without limits and we hope that the talks will bear fruit.
“We want the old medical scheme, which is in the Collective Bargain Agreement and which provides medical cover to every unionisable employee without any limit with 80 per cent of the cost borne by KPA while the 20 per cent is paid by the employee,” said Mr Sang.
The official added that the union had signed the deal on the understanding that the trials would run for an year with a review after six months, but,to their consternation, KPA later changed the arrangement.
