The Nation Newspaper

Tag: National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

  • Niger to recruit 267 health personnel in 2017

    The Niger Government on Wednesday said it had concluded arrangements to employ 267 healthcare workers as part of efforts to boost the health sector in the state.

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health, Dr Makun Sidi, disclosed this when he led the state’s Health Care Financing Technical Working Committee on an advocacy visit to the state’s House of Assembly.

    He said “last year, we had approval to engage 110 health workers, out of which, 30 were doctors.

    “This year, we would recruit 267, out of which, five would be consultants.

    “Suffice to say that today, Niger has 18 consultants in different areas of specialisation as against few years ago when we had four or five.”

    The permanent secretary, who noted that the remuneration of health workers in the state was poor, appealed for improvement in that regard.

    According to him, the General Hospital, Minna, records 600 child deliveries
    monthly.

    Sidi said the executive would send a bill seeking to domesticate the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the state.

    The Health Care Financing Technical Working Committee then appointed the Speaker of the House, Alhaji Ahmed Marafa, as champion of the State Health Insurance Scheme.

    In his remarks, the Speaker assured that the bill would be passed into law in record time when it was presented to the House.

    Marafa maintained that the domestication of the NHIS had become necessary, as health issues were capital intensive.

  • NYSC deploys 2,600 Batch B corps members to Oyo

    NYSC deploys 2,600 Batch B corps members to Oyo

    No fewer than 2,600 2016 Batch B stream 11 corps members will undertake the three-week orientation at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp, Iseyin, Oyo State.

    Mr Simeon Bankole, the Head of Press and Public Relations Unit of NYSC in the state, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ibadan on Monday that the orientation course would hold from Jan. 24 to February 13.

    Bankole said, however, that the swearing-in of the corps members would be held on January 26.

    He said that Gov. Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State would preside at the occasion, while Justice Munta Abimbola, the state’s Chief Judge, would administer the oath of allegiance on the corps members.

    Bankole urged Oyo State residents, especially the transport unions, to extend their hands of fellowship to the corps members, adding that many of the corps members were visiting the state for the first time.

    Corps members will now be enrolled in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable them to access quality healthcare.

  • Senate probes secret recruitment, lopsided appointments in NHIS

    Senate probes secret recruitment, lopsided appointments in NHIS

    The Senate Tuesday commenced investigation into alleged illegal recruitment and lopsided appointments of some management staff of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

    The probe also covers NHIS expenditure on trainings and travels.

    Management staff of the scheme led by its Executive Secretary, Mr. Usman Yusuf, appeared before the Senate Committee on Health yesterday to answer question bordering on alleged illegal recruitment, lopsided appointments and expenditure on training and travels.

    Yusuf told the committee that the new recruits were on “secondment” and not on appointment.

    Asked if the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who was present at the hearing, was aware of the “secondments” in the NHIS, the Executive Secretary answered in the negative.

    He said, “No, he (Adewole) is not aware.”

    The committee queried the NHIS boss why he spent N150 million on trainings and travels between January and June 2016, while the amount spent for the same purposes between July, August and September was between N2 million and N4 million, and the sum of N412 million was spent for the same purposes in October alone.

    The committee noted that it received a petition against the NHIS in which the petitioner claimed that while the number of general managers of NHIS was raised from 23 to 25, their appointments were not in line with the Federal Character principle.

    The panelists however declined to disclose the name of the petitioner as well as to provide
    a copy of the petition to Yusuf.

    The committee said that the petitioner claimed that the North-Central geopolitical zone, which had three representatives, now had five.

    The petitioner was also said to have claimed that the North-East, which had three, now has
    four while the North-West was raised from six to nine; South-East remained three; South-South dropped from four to three; while South-West reduced from four to one.

    Yusuf insisted that, “It will be for the sake of fair hearing that I get a copy of the petition before I respond (to the allegation). I am not aware of any petition and I can only respond to the petition that I can see and read. I need to know what is in the petition and where the petition is coming from.”

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Health, Senator Lanre Tejuoso, said that Yusuf should be able to state if the figures were correct or not even without seeing the petition or knowing it came from.

    The Executive Secretary insisted on seeing the petition before confirming or refuting the allegations.

    He said, “I need fair hearing; I need to see a copy of that petition.”

    The committee declined to grant the request for the NHIS boss to see a copy of the petition before responding to the allegations

    The committee said that since the allegations were against the NHIS and the person of Yusuf, they were not obliged to give out a copy of the petition to the Executive Secretary.
    A member of the committee, Senator Mao Ohuabunwa, noted the committee would confirm the allegations after going through the nominal roll of the NHIS.
    The committee said that the NHIS boss failed to provide its nominal roll, which was the first information it requested from the scheme.

    Members of the committee expressed displeasure with the management of NHIS for its
    failure to provide all the information requested from it.

    The committee resolved that the leadership of the scheme would reappear before
    the panel to verify the claims by the petitioner.

    The NHIS told the committee that the requested information would be provided on Monday next week.