Kyambogo deducts staff pay for medical insurance

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Beneficiaries. The scheme is intended to reduce the high cost of medication for 940 employees and their spouses, including at least four of their children.

KAMPALA. All Kyambogo University staff will start getting medical insurance come 2019, the Vice Chancellor, Pro Eli Katunguka, has said.
Speaking to journalists at his office, Prof Katunguka noted that the University Council passed a staff medical Insurance scheme policy to cater for health demands of all staff.
“An adhoc committee was selected to enroll staff for the scheme and the sensitisation exercise to create awareness among all staff was done. The process of procuring the service providers is ongoing to select insurance companies to offer best services,” Prof Katunguka said.
The vice chancellor revealed that the scheme will benefit about 940 employees and their spouses, including at least four of their children below the age of 21 years.
According to the plan, the university will inject Shs1b in the entire scheme but all staff will contribute 2 per cent of their salary to meet the expenditures.
“One of the major challenges our staff has been grappling with is the high cost of medication. We believe that with this new initiative, which is the first of its kind, our staff will get subsidised medication,” he said.

Budget constraints
Asked why the university cannot foot the medical bills of all staff without necessarily deducting 2 percent of their salaries, Prof Katunguka said the institution currently faces budgetary deficits yet there are many competing priorities.
The university, he said, currently operates on an annual budget of Shs141b where Shs48b comes from government while Shs98b is internally generated.

He noted that the administration will discuss how to handle cases of polygamous men whom he said are still skeptical about the insurance scheme.
However, staff members, who spoke to this newspaper, challenged Prof Katunguka to also prioritise enhancing their salaries before deducting 2 per cent of their already meagre salaries.
“Ideally, the university is supposed to cater for medication of all staff. Whereas the insurance scheme is good, I think management should also consider enhancing our salaries because the deduction will have a direct effect on some individuals,” said Mr Alfred Okello, a secretary.