STU/69th Council/21/030
11 November 2021

41 C/46: Report of the Director-General on the State of the Medical Benefits Fund (MBF)
and Appointment of Member States' Representation to the Board of Management for 2022-2023

COMMENTS BY THE UNESCO STAFF UNION (STU)

For the record, STU notes that there are several inaccuracies in the Report on state of the Medical Benefits Fund:

• The report incorrectly states in para 3 that the MBF is administered by a Third-Party Administrator (TPA), but correctly states in para 16 that the MBF is administered by a Board of Management.

• The Board consists of six members - three elected by participants and three senior administrators (or their representatives). The Chairperson appointed by the Director-General is not strictly speaking a member of the Board, is not entitled to vote, with the role of moderator between the ex-officio and elected members.

• The TPA is responsible for the administration of medical claims and their reimbursement.

• The report incorrectly states in para 9 that a former staff member must have completed 10 continuous years of participation. The Rules do not specify continuous years of participation.

More importantly, STU notes that the audit reports referred to in para 4, as well as that of the Report of the External Auditor on the MBF (202 EX/32 Part III), have stated very clearly that the MBF Secretariat is under-resourced. STU is very concerned not only that there is insufficient staff but also that there is a lack of experienced specialist medical insurance staff and urges the Administration to rectify the situation as soon as possible.

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