By Haruna Gimba
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will partner stakeholders to revamp 10, 000 Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities across Nigeria before the end of this year.
The Acting Executive Secretary of the scheme, Femi Akingbade, disclosed this in Abuja during a meeting with stakeholders with the theme ‘Understanding the Roles of Stakeholders in the Emerging NHIS,’
Mr. Akingbade said the partnership was to strengthen the effort being made by the Federal Government to ensure Universal Health Coverage.
“Strengthening the PHC system will reduce the medical cases referred to secondary and tertiary health care facilities and encourage proximity thereby boosting the confidence of the enrollees in the health care system,” he said.
The acting executive secretary also added that the referral system needed to be organised, saying there were some enrollees that would require advanced treatment in secondary and tertiary health care facilities.
He said that the process would be painstaking, but the roles of each system needed to be spelt out properly and as well generate revenues, adding that the scheme would assist Health Maintenance Organization and Health Care Facilities (HCF) access finance, to boost their hospitals for the benefit of enrollees.
Akingbade concluded that insurance to health was the key to sustainable health, but decried lack of confidence in the health acre system which deterred enrollees.
