As published by Aptantech on April 1st 2020
Minet Kenya, the administrator of the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) medical scheme, has unveiled an online portal for the scheme beneficiaries as a way of minimizing contacts. This is part of the measures in place to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.
Under the TSC’s Medical Scheme, a population of over 300,000 teachers and their beneficiaries will now be able to enquire and report any cases of the coronavirus to the Company through a free short message code 20207# or online portal.
“This move was necessary following the Government’s directives on dealing with the Coronavirus scourge, which, among other measures, requires that the public keep personal interactions as minimal as possible. The SMS code and online portal now make it possible for teachers under the TSC medical scheme to report any cases of Coronavirus of to us without necessarily visiting the offices,” said Minet Kenya CEO Sammy Mithui.
“I would, however, like to emphasize that we have set up a team of health and safety members who are already receiving all cases and giving guidelines. I also wish to add that our head office is still functional and we are available to provide updates on ambulatory, hospitals and self-quarantine support through the numbers 0800721316, 0732353535, and 0729471414. Our regional officers and county officers are working from home but are available on call as well,” Muthui added.
To further reduce exposure, Mr. Muthui said the insurer has recommended to hospitals to consider switching from fingerprints to alternative methods of identifying patients such as mobile USSD one-time-pin, access cards, optical, facial and voice recognition among other options where technology allows.
“We have immediately instructed service providers to implement the one-time-pin (OTP) system for identification in place of fingerprints,” Muthui said.
He assured teachers that Minet will continue to liaise with the government for guidance on the management of the Coronavirus disease and will provide any new directives whenever necessary.
“The information we have as at now is that most hospitals are working towards preparing their facilities to manage any incidences that present with the coronavirus and as such we urge teachers under the scheme to consult with us in case they might need admission as a result of such an infection. Alternatively, they can easily use the short code 20207# to make related reports to us,” said Muthui.
Kenya has so far registered 50 cases on the disease.
