NHIF rules out free cover for students who get pregnant

What you need to know:

  • President Uhuru Kenyatta in April launched the Sh4 billion medical scheme that will see some Sh1,350 paid for each student.

  • The medical insurance is meant to cover all the three million students in public secondary schools.

  • The medical cover is expected to cover for both outpatient and in-patient services for the period four years they will be in school.
  • The students will be treatment of all kinds of diseases including cancer and HIV and Aids.

Girls in the public secondary schools who get pregnant will not benefit from the free medical cover.

NHIF chief executive Geoffrey Mwangi said the free medical cover for students had not factored in early pregnancies.

“If any of the secondary schoolgirls gets pregnant they will not be covered by the NHIF. Those who will want to be assisted may opt to look for other sources of funding or register with the ‘Linda Mama’ initiative,” Mr Mwangi advised.

INITIATIVE

The Linda Mama initiative is an expanded free maternal care programme for expectant mothers.

Mr Mwangi said the secondary school medical cover recently rolled out by the government was only “designed to take care of in-patient and outpatient illnesses”.

Many teenage girls drop out of school because of early pregnancies.

A United Nations Population Fund report released  last December showed that 378,000 teenage girls aged between 10 and 19 became pregnant between July 2016 and June last year.

8 PER CENT

Narok County had the highest number of teenage pregnancies, accounting for 40 per cent of all the cases countrywide.

Homa Bay County followed with 33 per cent, West Pokot (29), Tana River (28), Nyamira (28) and Samburu (26). Migori and Kwale accounted for 24 per cent each.

Murang’a, Nyeri and Embu counties had the lowest number of teenage pregnancies, with six, seven and eight per cent, respectively.

Among the factors cited for the early pregnancies among the secondary schoolgirls are peer pressure, drug abuse, rape and lack of adequate guidance and counselling on sex.

Other factors include cultural practices, which force girls into early marriage.

BIG FOUR

The school medical cover is among the government’s ‘Big Four’ agenda.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in April launched the Sh4 billion medical scheme that will see some Sh1,350 paid for each student.

The medical insurance is meant to cover all the three million students in public secondary schools.

The medical cover is expected to cover for both outpatient and in-patient services for the students for the period four years they will be in school.

The students will be treatment of all kinds of diseases including cancer and HIV and Aids.