The manager Sunu Health Nigeria Ltd., Mr Roberts Ukeje has commended the federal government for the provision of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which is targeted at every Nigerian having access to qualitative health care.
Ukeje made this known in an interview with journalists recently in Abuja.
“We are sensitising and enrolling new staff of the National Orientation Agency (NOA) under the NHIS because the scheme is for every Nigerian to benefit.
“And being civil servants, it is their right to have access to quality and effective medical care when the need arises and we are here to get them enrolled and when they get to the hospitals, they will not have any challenges in accessing health care.
“With the pandemic right now, the economy is a bit rough and out of pocket medical expenditure is something we want to eliminate totally in Nigeria, for people to have health insurance and be able to access medical need without paying from their pocket.
“The scheme has been extended as well open wider to accommodate extra dependant like aged-parent and people with more than one spouse and those with more than four biological children as well. The scheme can actually accommodate every Nigerian,” he stated.
Ukeje called for government to develop the health system of the country while also appealing to providers to help the government improve quality of services by ensuring access to care to the enrollees according to NHIS operational guideline.
“Our expectations basically boiled down to government policies and all hands must be on deck to make sure all Nigerians have access to medical services.
“This is because part of what is running the scheme down is lack of access to care at the point of service. If we all operate according to the NHIS operational guideline we shall be attaining universal health coverage faster as more people would be encouraged to enroll into the scheme while the government takes care of the vulnerable.”
As part of efforts to make Nigerians access healthcare, he said the group, individuals and family health insurance programme were created to afford families to pay a little token and get health coverage for 12 calendar months.
One of the beneficiaries of NHIS, a staff of NOA, Mr. Segun Also, while recounting his experience said the scheme has provided a platform for family members to have good healthcare with little or no payment. He praised Sunu Health for giving prompt referrals when he had needs for secondary services
“Thanks to the scheme, it is not something so magnanimous, my family is beneficiary and the hospital attends to me very well. I will encourage the Nigerian populace to join the scheme.”
Also, Mrs. Priscilla Chanty, a staff of NOA said that the initiative was laudable as it provided for only 10 per cent of the service with excellent healthcare facilities.
Mr. Sylvester Soughul urged the government to do more in terms of provision of equipments, drugs and establishing more hospitals especially in the rural area.
