By Asma’u Ahmad
The Guild of Medical Directors (GMD), has appealed to the Federal Government to intervene and resolve the challenges hindering the smooth functioning of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
President of the GMD, Professor Femi Dokun-Babalola, who made the appeal in a statement issued to newsmen on Monday in Abuja, said the Guild is not happy with the current situation which he said tends to affect the smooth running of the scheme, thus leads to negative consequences for enrollees of the scheme.
“It should be noted that the primary focus of the scheme is to service the health needs of the enrollees and to improve the health indices of the country.
“In spite of the challenges engendered by this face-off, hospitals affiliated with the Guild continue to render uninterrupted service to the enrollees, even where payments have been unduly withheld,” he said.
Prof. Dokun-Babalola said the Guild was worried about the abysmally low coverage of the scheme in Nigeria. He said that other African countries such as Ghana and Kenya which had embraced a similar scheme had enrolled up to 69 per cent of their population.
The president advocated the introduction of mandatory enrolment of all eligible families in the country. He said the GMD had no objection to the current structure of the scheme involving the NHIS, Health Management Organisations (HMOs), the service providers (hospitals) and the enrollees.
“However there is a need to fine-tune the relationship between these institutions in such a way that high quality service is delivered to the enrollees. Primary health care should be left to the Primary health care centres and private hospitals.
“It should be taken away from secondary (general hospitals) and tertiary care providers (teaching hospitals, specialist hospitals and federal medical centres). These hospitals are at the moment overwhelmed with cases that can easily be taken care of at the primary care levels,” Prof Dokun-Babalola said. The president stressed that enrollees needed to be rightly guided as to their choice of primary care centre which should include all accredited health care institutions (public and private) within their catchment areas.
He also stressed the need to accredit more private institutions in anticipation of the increased number of enrollees.
He said: “At the moment, GMD hospitals account for about 60 per cent of all health care in the country, and it is unfortunate that the GMD is not even in the national or state health council.
“This should be looked into by the appropriate authorities. Ultimately we are urging the implementation of the National Health Act and its domestication at the state level.”
Prof. Dokun Babalola said the national executive of the GMD held an emergency meeting during which issues affecting the NHIS were discussed.
Recently, the federal government through the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, suspended the Chief Executive Officer of the NHIS, Prof Usman Yusuf, “a result of various allegations and petitions against him.”
The Minister also directed the setting up of an investigative committee to look into the various allegations leveled against Yusuf in accordance with the Public Service Rules.
