The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) on Friday revealed that the change of name from National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to NHIA has strengthened its operation as a regulator with more functions and also entrenched mandatory health insurance for all Nigerians to ensure Universal Health Coverage.
The NHIA also noted that enrollee satisfaction remains the foundation of the agency’s operations and one of the key reasons for its establishment.
These statements were made by Mr. Stanley Effah, NHIA Cross River Coordinator, during the agency’s celebration of Customer Week from October 2 to October. 6 in Calabar.
NHIA formerly the National Health Insurance Scheme, (NHIS) was established in 1999 by decree 35 and officially renamed on May 24, 2022.
“The change of name from NHIS to NHIA has strengthened us to operate as a regulator with more functions and also entrenched the mandatory health insurance for all Nigerians to ensure Universal Health Coverage.
Its core mandate was directed at providing accessible, affordable and qualitative healthcare for all Nigerians through a public private partnership (PPP) to achieve the Universal Health Coverage.
Effah, noted that the week is held in 36 states across the country, said it gives the agency a chance to look back and see how enrollees benefit from its services .
He said a lot has changed within the agency since the new NHIA was signed into law, leading to more strategic programs that have increased participation, especially in Cross River.
“Although not all our programmes have been implemented, the change of name has made the agency stronger to protect the enrollees and to sanction erring stakeholders in the health insurance ecosystem.
“We now have a new operational system that will be unveiled soon and new Memoranda of Understanding, (MoU) has been signed with pharmaceuticals and drug manufacturers to make our operations better with the enrollees in mind,” he said.
However, he urged enrollees to organize themselves and join association so that they can benefit more from the organization.
On his part, Mr. Orok Edet, Chairman of the NHIS Members Association of Nigeria, said that with the new name, NHIA now has a new mandate to address issues that were previously a challenge in the health sector among members and health care providers.
Noting that there is a need to raise awareness among healthcare professionals who sometimes try to defraud members, Edet called for closer collaboration between NHIA and members to fully integrate enrollees in the scheme.
Mrs Margaret Oneh, enrollees disclosed that she had been with the scheme for 11 years and she was able to give birth to all her children through it at a very minimal cost.
She encouraged more people to join the scheme while calling on NHIA to carry out more monitoring of private healthcare practitioners who in a bid to make more profit try to shortchange enrollees by telling them that some conditions were partly covered.
She called for more people to join the scheme, and also called on the NHIA to more closely monitor private doctors who, in order to make more profits, try to defraud members by telling them that some conditions were covered by insurance.
. TheWitness
