Bodaboda riders in Kisumu County have appealed to the National government to subsidize for them the newly launched NHIF Medical cover for the riders.
The have however appreciated the cover saying that it will help cover their medical expenses especially in accidents.
This quest follows early this month’s move by National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) and BodaBoda Safety Association of Kenya to sign a partnership to enhance the Universal Health Care coverage.
The cover will see to it that all riders will be covered across all the 47 counties.
Kisumu bodaboda rider David Odhiambo says that if the cover will entirely depend on the rider for monthly payment then it will be a major challenge to them.
David confirmed that majority of them are already registered but faulted due to lack of money to pay.
“This cover is good to us riders because you never know when you can encounter an accident in short there are many issue this cover can assist us on. NHIF is good but the problem what we currently earn is like daily bread. For example, I’m an NHIF registered member but due to lack of money have faulted many time,” David said.
They further cried that once a member fails in paying on time, the NHIF regulations will scare them away as it requires one to pay Ksh.1000 and wait for three months
Another rider known as Ochieng added that currently Motorbike has no money as the amount they get is not enough to cater for basic needs plus fuel.
“People do believe that motorbike riders do make a lot of money in a day but what I can tell them for free is that we do not make a lot of money. The amount might range between Ksh.500 to Ksh.1000. Remember we have rent to pay, food for the family, fuel prices are high and some of us ride motorbikes on loan,” Ochieng stated.
The number of persons operating motorbikes has also increased.
Report shows that in Kenya, 15% of road accident victims are bodaboda riders.
Out of all the victims, only 11% have insurance. This implies that 89% of bodaboda riders do not have medical insurance.
The partnership will benefit over 5 million Kenyans who rely on Bodaboda industry.
