By Adi Angyu
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has called on Healthcare facilities in Bauchi state to adhere to its new operational template and guidelines on healthcare.
The State Coordinator of NHIS, Sani Garba Affa stated this when he visited the Chief Medical Director of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital (ATBUTH), Dr. Alkali Mohammed, to congratulate him on his re-appointment and notify the hospital management of the new template. Earlier, Affa had met with representatives of various facilities in the State.
He also said the Scheme has scheduled its staff to all registered facilities to ensure strict adherence to NHIS guidelines and make sure that monies disbursed were used for treatment of enrolees and upgrade of facilities to provide 24-hour services.
He said: “As a regulatory body, we have the responsibility to protect enrolees and the interest of all. Therefore, the new template will provide the Scheme with information on capitation received, number of lives, training of staff, number of enrolees attended to, purchase of equipments and drugs within and outside retainership pharmaceutical outlets.”
He urged the management of the hospital, which has the highest number of lives in the state, to upgrade its NHIS clinic and educate the staff on the new guidelines, revised drug list and service charges for secondary/tertiary levels of care. He said as a tertiary facility, ATBUTH must provide services that would encourage primary facilities in the state to refer more enrolees for higher levels of care.
Reacting, Dr. Mohammed, after appreciating the visit, promised to incorporate the NHIS clinic into the family medicine department of the hospital for improved and seamless 24-hour services.
He attributed some of the challenges facing the NHIS Clinic to the inability of some Healthcare Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) to pay their capitations on time as required by the law.
Mohammed thanked the state office for the concern and promised to cooperate with the Scheme to enable it achieve its mandate of providing qualitative healthcare services to Nigerians at an affordable costs.
