By Haruna Gimba
The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has called for a compulsory health insurance for all Nigerians, saying, ‘it is a major ingredient that will ensure universal health coverage in the country.
The medical doctors challenged government at all levels to rise up to ensure that Nigerians have access to quality healthcare irrespective of where they live.
Prof. Mike Ogrima
President of the NMA, Professor Mike Ogrima, said health should be occupying top place in the government’s priority list without which the country’s health indices will not improve.
“We need compulsory health insurance scheme, social health insurance scheme for our people, we need more funding into the healthcare system, and these are the ingredients that will ensure universal health coverage so that every Nigerian should be able to access health in any section of the Nigeria they lived. Health cannot be left in the
hands of government alone,” he said.
We must complement but we want to use this opportunity to inform them that they must realise that health should be an important programme in their government.
Also speaking, the Chairman of Amuwo Odofin Local Government Area, Lagos State, Valentine Oluwaseyi Braimoh, lauded the effort of the medical doctors and added that people in the grassroots are finding it difficult to treat themselves, hence, the need for local government authorities to find ways of complementing their efforts.
Earlier, the Chairman, B-Zone, Mile 2 Estate, Lagos, Pastor Babalola Balogun expressed joy by the turn out of residents of the area, urging the NMA to make it a quarterly programme for their people
