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Tag: NHIS

  • FEC okays NYSC members’ inclusion in NHIS

    FEC okays NYSC members’ inclusion in NHIS

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) yesterday approved the inclusion of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

    It was to ensure that the corps members have access to good health care services.

    Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole stated this at the end of the FEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    He was with Minister of Agriculture Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Science and Technology Ogbonnaya Onu and Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity Femi Adesina.

    He said: “The other memorandum has to do with how we will prevent unnecessary death among youth corps members across the country. Council approved the memo that henceforth we will include NYSC members in the National Health Insurance Scheme across the country.

    “This will guarantee access to quality care across the country, prevent unnecessary deaths and also ensure our youth corps members receive the highest attainable level of care across the country.”

    He disagreed with the claim that the NHIS had failed woefully.

    Adewole said: “I would rather use a more positive comment that we are not where we ought to be with respect to the NHIS and that is because it is voluntary. A voluntary scheme anywhere in the world is not likely to succeed as much as we would love to have it.

    “So, this scheme for NYSC is not compulsory, its mandatory for all NYSC and government will pay the premium. What we have now with NHIS is that only government employed people and very few in the private sector are enrolled into the scheme. I am sure you know the Senate is conducting a public hearing into how to broaden the scope of the NHIS, making it more effective to serve the generality of Nigerians and that’s our destination.”

    He added that the council approved the procurement and distribution of contraceptive commodities and services across the country for the next four years.

    Adewole said his ministry presented a report on the state of public health services across the country.

    According to him, the ministry had declared the end of meningitis outbreak in the country.

    He said: “We also informed FEC that we have not recorded new cases of Polio in the country in 2017. We have recorded seven new cases of Lassa fever across the country and the cholera outbreak in Kwara State has also fizzled out.”

  • FG approves enrolment of NYSC members into NHIS

    FG approves enrolment of NYSC members into NHIS

    The Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday approved the enrolment of members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to guarantee them access to quality healthcare services.

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, stated this when he briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting presided over by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

    Adewole expressed optimism that the inclusion of the corps’ members in the health scheme would not only check unnecessary deaths among NYSC members but also ensure that they receive the highest attainable level of healthcare across the country.

    He said: “The other memorandum taken at today’s (Wednesday) meeting had to do with how we will prevent unnecessary deaths among the corps members across the country.

    “The Council approved the memo that henceforth we will include NYSC members in the National Health Insurance Scheme across the country and this will guarantee access to quality healthcare across the country, prevent unnecessary deaths and also ensure that the NYSC members receive the highest (attainable) level of healthcare services across the country.”

    Adewole announced that his ministry also presented the reports on the state of public health services in the country to the council.

    He disclosed that no single case of polio was recorded in the country in 2017, while only seven new cases of Lassa fever were recorded across the country this year.

    “We have formally declared the meningitis outbreak over in the country.

    “We also informed FEC that we have not recorded any case of polio in 2017.

    “We have recorded seven new cases of Lassa fever across the country and the cholera outbreak in Kwara State has also fizzled out.

    “So, we have to report that to FEC, today,’’ the minister said.

    NAN

  • NHIS can’t work, says NMA

    NHIS can’t work, says NMA

    •HMOs to be re-accredited in July

    The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) will not work as presently being operated, Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) President Dr. Mike Ogorima said yesterday.

    He said only the formal sector still enjoying the scheme, thereby cutting off the informal sector.

    Ogorima spoke yesterday in Abuja at a one-day leadership  retreat for chief executives of tertiary health institutions with the theme: ”Strengthening healthcare delivery in Nigeria through efficient leadership.

    He said: “NHIS is not going to work the way it is. NHIS must be extended to the rural areas.”

    He noted that there must be community-based insurance scheme, stressing that for about 12 years now, it has only been the civil servants at the Federal level enjoying the NHIS.

    Ogorima said it was left for the rest of country to join the scheme at the state, local government and at the private sector levels.

    He explained that just like the daily contributions, the people in the informal sector could be made to contribute towards the scheme, though with the knowledge that the contributions are savings for the raining day.

    This, he said, would minimise out of pocket expenditure for healthcare delivery.

    But, as part of the efforts to make universal health coverage a reality in the country, NHIS Executive Secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf, said all the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) are expected to be reaccredited in July.

    The re-accredited process, according to him, will be used to weed the scheme.

  • Labour berates NHIS boss for interference

    Labour berates NHIS boss for interference

    Orgnaised Labour under the aegis of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) has berated the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, for allegedly sponsoring some faceless individuals to parade themselves as unit officers of the association in the organisation.

    In a statement in Abuja, ASCSN National President Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary-General Comrade Alade Lawal emphasised that the NHIS Executive Secretary had no right under the law to decide for the union those to manage its affairs.

    “We, therefore, reject in its entirety the decision by Professor Yusuf to be sponsoring one Owen Udouwen, who had been making noise that he is the Unit Chairman of the ASCSN in the NHIS. We hereby disown Udouwem because he is not representing the association and demand that Professor Yusuf should stop forthwith from meddling in the affairs of the Association,” the union’s executives said.

    They noted that the rejection was necessary in order not to trigger industrial crisis in the NHIS. ”Prof. Yusuf has enough to do in NHIS if he is serious enough to accept that the job of Executive Secretary of NHIS is a serious one.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Unit Chairman of the ASCSN in the NHIS is Comrade Omomeji Abdul Razaq.  There is no faction whatsoever in the Association and there is a ruling of the National Industrial Court (NIC) to that effect,” the Union stressed.

    The association recalled that when Yusuf arrived at the NHIS, he wore the toga of an anti-corruption crusader and the union pledged to cooperate with him. But the union said unfolding events in NHIS have proved otherwise.

    “As we write, the NHIS is enmeshed in endemic corruption thus necessitating the upper legislative Chamber (Senate) to turn its searchlight on the organisation,” the ASCSN added.

    The union’s helmsmen said following the secondment of 15 persons into the NHIS, the Association kicked against the impunity and reported the management of the NHIS to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment and the Presidency, which then directed the Labour Ministry to intervene.

    It pointed out that the Labour Ministry set up a committee to look into the complaint of the union and that members of the committee were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Health, NHIS and ASCSN to examine the issue of secondment and other labour related matters carried out by the NHIS Executive Secretary and report back.

    The union said at the end of its assignment, the committee reached an agreement that the secondment of 15 officers by NHIS was illegal and the Executive Secretary was directed to send those so seconded packing to wherever they came from.

    It added that the committee found out that some of those seconded were placed on level 15 as opposed to level 09, which they were in the establishments they came from.

    “It was also resolved that all unit officers of the Association posted away from the NHIS headquarters by the Executive Secretary should be brought back to their desks,” the Union emphaised.

    The ASCSN pointed out that in order to protect workers from arbitrary acts of employers, Conventions 87 and 98 of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which Nigeria ratified stipulate that workers should not be dismissed or subjected to any prejudice because of union membership or participation in union activities.

  • Senate probes alleged fraud in NHIS

    The Senate on Tuesday mandated a seven-man ad-hoc committee to probe the N860 million allegedly spent by the Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Yusuf Usman.

    The expenditure was said to be without approval of the appropriate authority.

    The resolution to set up the committee followed a motion entitled: “Averting the looming crisis and monumental corruption in Nigeria’s Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS): a time for action,” tabled by Senator Kabir Garba Marafa (Zamfara Central).

    Senator Marafa, in his lead debate, recalled that the Senate Committee on Health had at a point expressed grave concern over the behavior of the Executive Secretary especially to his superiors in the ministry over official matters.

    He noted that Usman has a spending limit of only N2.5 million while any spending above his threshold must either be referred to the Board or his supervising ministry.

    Marafa expressed concern about the alleged corrupt expenditure of N292 million single-handedly incurred by the Executive Secretary for health care financing training and the N118 million allegedly spent for training of staff without reference to any appropriate approving authority.

     

     

  • ‘No ‘illegal’ recruitment in NHIS’

    ‘No ‘illegal’ recruitment in NHIS’

    The Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)  Prof Usman Yusuf has denied allegation of illegal recruitment levelled against him by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN).

    He said there was no illegal recruitment in NHIS, adding that he remained committed to delivering optimal health service to all Nigerians.

    He said the management was making efforts towards repositioning the scheme for effective service delivery.

    He said the aim of the scheme is to reposition the institution to deliver health care to all Nigerians, especially to the poor and vulnerable in the society.

    Yusuf said the scheme had a goal to reach the pregnant women, children under five, the disabled, unemployed and the internally displaced persons.

    ASCSN had threatened to shut NHIS unless its management reversed the alleged illegal decision, within 21 days, the ‘illegal’ secondment of staff to the organisation.

    In a statement in Lagos, its Secretary-General, Comrade Alade Bashir Lawal, regretted that efforts by the union to reach Yusuf to have a change of heart on the matter were futile.

    “As a responsible trade union that believes so much in dialogue in settling dispute in work places, we requested a meeting with the executive secretary to discuss the issue of illegal secondment with a view to resolving it only to be ignored on all occasions.

    “The executive secretary illegally imported officers into the organisation, some of whom were on grade level 10 in their former work-places and placed them on grade level 15 at the NHIS, positions that are inconsistent with their qualifications and experience despite the fact that there are qualified and competent serving officers that should have been made to fill the positions,” the union alleged.

    The ASCSN lamented that it had written four letters to the executive secretary on the need to summon a meeting to resolve the matter.

    “It is clear that the executive secretary is bent on running the organisation the way he likes. Indeed, he has been boasting that the organisation belongs to him and that he will run it as his personal estate,” the union said.

    The group had condemned the administrative style of the executive secretary, describing it as not being in tandem with public service rules.

    According to the ASCSN secretary-general,  the association had informed the relevant agencies to avail them of the ultimatum.

  • Minister disappointed with NHIS services

    Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello has called for improvement in the quality of services being rendered to patrons of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in FCT hospitals.

    Bello made this call when the Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Scheme, Professor Usman Yusuf paid him a visit.

    He said the feedback he has been receiving from enrollees of the scheme has not been encouraging, especially with regards to the quality of drugs being provided to them.

    The Minister wondered why patients would be asked to purchase drugs from third parties outside of the scheme, despite making part payments to hospital managements in addition to their contributions to the National Health Insurance Scheme.

    According to a statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary, Muhammad Sule, the minister urged the organization to also tackle the issue of the perception in the public that drugs in the NHIS system are always of low quality types because this is what the feedbacks usually reveal.

    His words: “If the funding or contribution being made by the enrollees is the issue, then it is very important for us to tackle that because it is not appropriate for them to pay for portion of the services in the hospitals and then they go outside to pay for other services. That makes it difficult for the physicians and for you the agencies moving these services to really profile your patients properly, because parties that are under your supervision as well as parties that are not under your supervision are giving services. So, it becomes difficult for you to detect issues of maybe wrong diagnosis or wrong prescription.”

    Reacting to the suggestion that Desk Officers should be assigned to healthcare facilities nationwide to monitor the services being provided to subscribers of the NHIS, the Minister said the FCT Administration would give full support to any idea that could help improve services to the residents.

    His words: “The bottom line is service delivery and the feedback from the general public, not only in FCT but so many other States has not been encouraging. For the Scheme to succeed, we as the operators, the policy makers and more importantly, those in enforcement and supervision is the key and that’s why we whole heartedly support your vision and requirement to assign Desk Officers in all the hospitals nationwide.

    “The FCT will naturally key into it and provide you the necessary support. The advantage you have is that being stationed in the FCT, you could always use the facilities you have in the FCT to try all the new ideas and interventions you want to do and we will support you so that the FCT will be a model that you will always showcase to other states when you go for advocacy or when you invite them to Abuja.”

    Bello directed the Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, General Manager of the FCT Hospital Services Management Board as well as the FCT Health Insurance Scheme to sit down with the NHIS team and discuss issues on how to improve the situation.

    The Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Scheme, Professor Usman Yusuf said: “Our enrollees nationwide have not been treated with the respect and dignity they deserved as many of our patients go to hospitals and they complain to us that drugs are usually out of stock”.

    Yusuf added, “That is why I solicit the support of the FCT Minister to allow NHIS to deploy Desk Officers in FCT hospitals to advocate for patients. So that when our patients go to hospitals and are told they encounter problems, they have somebody to go to and complain, which is the NHIS Desk Officer. The Desk Officer will get direct access to me just as I have direct access to the Hon. Minister of FCT”.

     

  • TUC seeks NHIS’ removal from TSA

    TUC seeks NHIS’ removal from TSA

    The Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to direct Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) funds be removed from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos, TUC President, Comrade Bobboi Bala Kaigama, said if the funds were not paid back into NHIS coffers, the scheme might collapse.

    “The withdrawal of humongous sums of money in the National Health Insurance Scheme fund and its subsequent lodgement into the Treasury Single Account (TSA) has gravely affected the operations and financial capability of the scheme in terms of growing the pooled fund.

    “This trend, if not reversed urgently, will adversely affect future activities and operations of the scheme,” he emphasised.

    The TUC chief said the NHIS was not a revenue generating agency since its funds come from the pool of workers, contributions,” he said.

    He added that the NHIS was established by the National Assembly Act CAP.42 LFN 2004 to provide health services to workers at affordable cost while treating tertiary related diseases, emergency health situations, and to eliminate huge out-of-pocket expenses.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, we wish to categorically state that NHIS by the Act that established it has never been a revenue generating agency for the government.

    “The contributions to the NHIS coffers are funds pooled majorly from monthly salaries of dedicated workers, money from international donors and voluntary contributions from private individuals,” Kaigama said.

    Kaigama emphasised that the NHIS was set up to cater for the healthcare of its contributing enrollees whose funds were the life of the scheme and by extension to provide universal healthcare coverage for all Nigerians.

    “If the Federal Government insists that its wrongly held position on the matter will not change, traden unions may be left with no other option than to seek redress in the law court in order to defend the overall interest of the workers who are the major contributors to the Scheme,” the Union emphasised.

  • NHIS funds: Why it’s unfair to blame TSA

    Since September 15, 2015 when the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy was implemented, it has been making headlines on the news pages, but hardly for the best of reasons. Nowadays, it seems every problem under the sun is blamed on the TSA, including delayed salaries, pay cuts and even something as ridiculous as lopsided end-of-year promotions.

    Some months ago, the sports ministry claimed it was unable to remunerate our sports team that participated in the Rio Olympic Games because its funds were domiciled in the TSA. The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) took the reins afterwards, alleging that lecturers were unable to access foreign grants and other perks due to the TSA which was undermining their autonomy. Oddly enough, fingers have been known to point at the TSA when some of our universities run out of letterhead paper. How more ridiculous can the blame game get?

    ASUU may have fought and won the battle for exclusion of its foreign grants from the TSA to perpetuate a cycle of misappropriation of funds in our tertiary institutions. But it is appalling that the Trade Union Congress (TUC) is joining the bandwagon to claim that the NHIS funds are “trapped” in the TSA as well, whipping up public sympathy on the platform of affordable healthcare.

    It is no news that the NHIS is mired in fraud. Last time we checked, the 11-year-old scheme was enmeshed in misappropriation of funds to the tune of N2.1 billion. In a recent interview granted to newsmen, NHIS Executive Secretary, Usman Yusuf, disclosed that federal workers who enrolled for the scheme were not being attended to, and the fraud rocking the system was much worse than the fuel subsidy scam. It is precisely for these and other reasons that the scheme needs to come under the umbrella of the TSA to instil a measure of fiscal discipline and accountability that it has not known in its 11 years of existence.

    Truth is, the anti-TSA campaign amounts to giving a dog a bad name in order to hang it. So far, the TSA has helped the government recover N4.3 trillion of its cash assets hitherto “trapped” in the system, no pun intended. The majority would have us return to the dark era when mismanagement of funds and impunity were the order of the day. But if there is to be a revolution, it must start now and we must support it. The TSA is not quicksand which traps funds. It is only a single account where the funds generated by our Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) are lodged and disbursed subject to agreed processes meant to instil a measure of accountability in the administration of public funds.

    Coming back to the NHIS, it is misleading for the TUC to go to town with news that NHIS’s funds are “trapped” in the TSA and this is affecting healthcare delivery to workers who enrol for the scheme. Fact is, the TSA is only a year old while the NHIS is 11. Without question, the NHIS has barely scratched the surface of affordable healthcare delivery to Nigerian workers, much less the rest of us within that timeframe. So it is highly unfair to blame its glaring inadequacies on the TSA.

    To counter the much-vaunted “trapped funds” argument directly, NHIS’s funds in the TSA are accessible to select officers and management staff who can access and make transactions with it subject to the approval levels required by the organisation, as with other MDAs in the Federation. It is preposterous that the TUC is feigning ignorance of the fact that the same processes that guide opening and operating of accounts in commercial banks apply to the TSA as well. Before TSA when MDA funds were domiciled with multiple commercial banks, their financial transactions underwent various levels of approval and did not sail through until the final approver rubber-stamped the process. Asking for anything different with the TSA smacks of the antics of a few disgruntled elements out to take us back to the pre-TSA era when they could siphon public funds without any paper or electronic trail.

    The TUC needs to use the media to sell a positive message rather than claim that the permission of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), CBN authorities and other external ‘regulators’ is needed before MDAs can make transactions out of their accounts. Truth is, even before the full implementation of the TSA as far back as 2012, the CBN and the AGF did not vet transactions processed by the MDAs. I am not sure they are about to start that now.

    On a more practical level, there are laid-down procedures for addressing grievances rather than playing the whipping boy in the public domain. If the NHIS requires a sub-account or wishes to invest its funds for more efficient service delivery to the citizenry, the Scheme’s managers should simply apply to the AGF for it and get back to the public if their request is unduly delayed or denied. Then, they might have a case. But at this point, the rest of us are much too busy trying to eke out a living to pay any attention to populist statements that take us nowhere fast.

    Iheanacho, a public affairs analyst, wrote in from Lagos

  • Lawmaker partners NHIS, NGO on health care delivery

    Lawmaker partners NHIS, NGO on health care delivery

    Mindful of the United Nations (UN) stance that access to quality and affordable health care will solve most of health challenges confronting humankind, especially those dwelling at the rural areas, the member representing Ilaje Constituency 1 in the Ondo State House of Assembly, Mr. Abayomi Akinruntan, has provided quality health care services for members of his constituency.

    The gesture was in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). It was aimed at giving medical support to the people.

    Also involved in the collaboration is Equitable Health Access Initiative (EHAI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

    To this end, the representatives of the NGO and the NHIS in Ondo State had visited two out of the 18 health centres in the constituency in preparation for the commencement of the health insurance scheme.

    The two health centres visited were Ilowo Comprehensive Health Centre located on the riverside communities which serves the people residing at the riverside, and Ugbonla Basic Health Centre in Ugbonla.

    The team observed that the health centre in Ilowo community, which was built some years ago by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to provide quality health care to the people  and being managed by the Ondo State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (OSOPADEC) on contract basis, was in a terrible shape.

    During the visit, the two members of staff on duty, who took the team round the facility, decried the level of neglect by OSOPADEC. They urged the state government to show more interest in the maintenance of the health centre.

    One of the workers said: “All the equipment here are obsolete as a result of which we can’t treat patients. I have been working here for over 10 years. This place was serving the people of the riverside area but since three years now, we’ve not been getting support again from OSOPADEC that is managing the facility.

    “The only thing we get is our salaries; no equipment, no drugs and the staff quarter is dilapidated. We now refer our patients from here to the upland in Ugbonla Basic Health Centre or Igbokoda General Hospital. It has not been easy for members of staff here.”

    However, the condition was somewhat better at the Ugbonla Basic Health Centre as the place had just been renovated by Consolidated Oil Company, (Conoil).

    The Head Nurse, who took the team round the health centre, appreciated the regular support of the local government, adding that even though they are still experiencing some challenges, with time they will overcome them.

    Speaking at the palace of Olugbo of Ugbo, Oba Fredrick Obateru Akinruntan, the lawmaker said he had decided to bring relief to his constituents after realising the challenges they face in accessing affordable and quality health care.

    His words: “Our people, especially in the riverside area, face a lot of problems before they access quality health care in their communities. It’s expensive and not easy moving pregnant women and emergency cases with boat or canoe from the riverside to the upland.

    “I realised the need for urgent intervention on their health facility in the riverside area and I have decided to take it upon myself to foot the bill of delivering quality health care for my people; not minding the harsh economic situation. This tour was for us to assess the level of readiness of the centres to provide such services.”

    Responding, the NHIS Director in Ondo State, Mr. Simon Adeniji, commended the lawmaker for giving them a platform to deliver the Federal Government’s initiative to the people of Ilaje Constituency 1.

    He said the aim of the NHIS was to ensure that communities, especially those at the rural areas, have direct access to quality health care across the country at no or low cost, adding that the purpose of their visit was to assess the infrastructure at the health centres and strategise on how to deliver good and quality health care to the people.

    The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of EHAI, Dr Akinmurele Timothy, admitted that Mr. Akinruntan has done a noble thing by caring about the welfare of his people. He added that only those who have their people in mind will decide to bear the cost which he put at N800 monthly per person.

    After the inspection of the facilities, the team visited the Olugbo of Ugbo land.

    The monarch said the state of the health centres in Ilaje is worrisome, even as he called on the state government to intervene for the benefit of people living in the riverside areas. He promised to collaborate with the team in achieving their goal of delivering better health care to his people.