NMA: Clear Strategy Needed For NHIA Implementation

Dr. Uche Ojinmah, the National President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), is calling for there to be a clear-cut strategy in the implementation of the National Health Insurance Act (NHIA).

According to him, the transformation of the health insurance scheme into an authority has made it mandatory for all Nigerians to be enrolled and served, which is a good development.

“We have been calling for this. Let health insurance be made mandatory for Nigerians and this is a good development. However, what we are suggesting is that the Federal Government should work out a modality for implementing it. For me, no child should be registered into any primary school, whether public or private, if the parents don’t have health insurance. It will help a lot.

“You cannot also say that for you to register for Permanent Voter Card (PVC) to vote, you must show evidence of your health insurance. It is important but Nigerians don’t understand it but those that have joined will tell you the benefit of it.”

Dr. Ojinmah said that one of the benefits of having health insurance is getting healthcare delivery at a paltry sum, “So, those that are outside say it’s not working, is it not a Nigerian thing, but we are telling them from NMA that it is working and it can get better.”

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The NMA president also said the new Act would help in solving the problem of Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs).

He said that though there were improvements to be made in that regard according to the NHIA Act it would ensure that money got to the hands of the service provider, which was a problem in the former scheme.

Commenting on the funds that would be made available to treat vulnerable people, Ojinmah said it was a welcome development, but that those who fell into that category needed to be classified and labeled clearly for them to benefit from the fund.

“The vulnerable fund is one of the things that impressed me but we need to have a clear-cut definition of who will be called vulnerable in our society so that if someone that is homeless is ill, they can benefit from that fund. So, with all these changes, I look forward to us having a good health insurance in Nigeria.”

He lauded the fact that the dragnet had been expanded to bring in those in the formal and informal sectors of the nation’s economy, however, he also added that more needed to be done to encourage participation.

“They need to bring in all this our people like National Council for Women Society to help them in enlightening women because childbearing is involved.”