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#Post#: 306090--------------------------------------------------
Review NHIS Act for Improved Coverage, HCPAN Tells NASS
DIR By: myschooltalkpaul
Date: September 4, 2018, 9:10 am
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The Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria, HCPAN, has
appealed to the 8th National Assembly to review the National
Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, Act with a view to making the
Scheme more accessible to Nigerians.
The Association, however, decried what it described as ‘static
nature’ of the Scheme, regretting that it had been relegated.
The National President, HCPAN, Dr. Umar Sanda who spoke during
the Extraordinary General Meeting in Lagos, said the current
situation of the Scheme has affected most states that initially
intended to key into the project to relax about it.
Sanda said: “We have not seen enrollees added to the list and
providers are feeling the pinch.” Stating that Universal Health
Coverage can only be achieved when the NHIS is made compulsory,
he noted: “The law setting up the act is a problem. As long as
this 8th Assembly does not pass the new law on health insurance,
we will not move any step further.
It is the only way of financing health. “The law has passed the
second reading. It is more than eight months now, we have not
heard anything about it. We believe that the only way of
financing health is by health insurance, the government cannot
do it alone, “he noted. Sanda alleged that some aspects of the
law erode both providers and enrollees’ rights as well as give
more powers to the regulators and not the providers.
“There are so many things wrong about the law. “How can
regulators keep the premium and then disburse the money? That is
why you have friction between the health managers and the
regulators and that is why you have providers not being paid as
at when due.
The prepaid programme is now totally a post-prepaid programme.”
On his part, National President of the Pharmaceutical Society
of Nigeria, PSN, Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai noted that NHIS remains
the gateway to achieve universal healthcare coverage.
“There is the need for government to review the NHIS Act as this
would allow all Nigerians to enroll in NHIS. Now, for instance,
many of the enrollees go to private hospitals because the Act
has not been reviewed. “I can assure you by the time the Act
would be reviewed, every Nigerian would be going to general
hospitals without paying.
We are saying let us have a fee for service in NHIS,” he stated.
Also speaking, President, Association of General Medical Private
Practitioners of Nigeria, AGPMPN, Dr Iyke Odo, said a universal
health coverage was a system that makes it possible for
everybody to be registered and covered by health insurance and
if it is made compulsory through rule of law, it will bring back
honesty, disciplined leadership. He said the law establishing
the Scheme has clearly defined the role of all stakeholders.
“We need Universal Coverage where every provider will be
guaranteed of critical mass, and adequate number of enrollees.”
By Chioma Obinna
Vanguard News
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