by Asmau Ahmad
The Pension Transitional Arrangement Directorate (PTAD) had held a follow-up meeting with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to fine-tune the modalities for the kick-off of the health insurance cover for pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme (DBS).
PTAD’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Gbenga Ajayi, said in a statement on Monday in Abuja.
He said that the acting Executive Secretary of PTAD, Mr Sulayman Shelleng, stated that the collaboration with the NHIA would be leveraging on the ongoing “I Am Alive” confirmation exercise for all verified and pay-rolled pensioners to enroll pensioners.
Shelleng said that the directorate would commence the pilot programme with the DBS pensioners who were verified on the payroll and had successfully confirmed their aliveness status.
He said that the beneficiaries of the pilot phase would have access to basic health services through selected hospitals closest to the pensioners’ communities of abode.
Shelleng said The NHIA team, among other things, presented the modalities and timelines to actualize the enrolment of PTAD pensioners drawn from across the four operational departments.
He said that plans were further discussed around organising pensioners’ sensitisation in the pilot states of Kaduna and Oyo to ease the onboarding process for pensioners.
The acting executive secretary said that they also assured the PTAD team that they would work with the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs).
Shelleng said that the HMOs would ensure that the Primary Health Care providers in the local communities delivered services empathetically to the DBS pensioners.
