More than 4,000 workers of the Uasin Gishu county government held protests in Eldoret opposing a firm contracted to provide them with medical cover.
They claim Trident insurance has no capacity to handle their medical cover.
However Trident CEO Dennis Njagi defended the company saying it has the capacity to offer the workers services as per contract they signed.
"In fact we are currently servicing more than 30 counties with similar contracts and quality services. I don’t know why the Uasin Gishu workers are complaining,” he said.
Njagi who spoke to the Star on phone said they had followed due process in signing the contract with the county government and that workers would enjoy good service.
He said the contract was signed recently and that the company was in the process of planning a sensitisation exercise for the workers in the near future.
Workers' representatives claimed they were being referred to clinics not listed in the contract but Njagi said all hospitals they were using are listed in the contract.
The workers led by the union chairman Isaac Taalam, marched to the Uasin Gishu county assembly where they presented a petition to speaker Phillip Muigei.
They complained that the company has no capacity to handle their medical cover, adding that they were being referred to clinics in Eldoret to treat them instead of well known hospitals.
“We have rejected Trident because they have no capacity and we do not know how they got the contract yet we have many other reputable firms,” said one of the workers.
They claimed some of the hospitals had already turned workers away claiming they would not deal with Trident claims.
Speaker Muigei said the assembly would within one week deal with issues raised by the workers.
“We have received your petition and because we take seriously medical issues, we will ensure we urgently deal with this,” Muigei said.
He said they would suspend a bill that was to deal with health infrastructure in the county because human resource must be given priority.
“We can’t go on with the bill on the infrastructure yet workers who are supposed to deal with the same infrastructure are complaining over a medical cover,” the speaker said.
The assembly has formed an 11- member ad hoc committee to be chaired by MCA Isaac Chirchir, to investigate the matter and report back to the assembly.
