The Health Care Providers’ Association of Nigeria (HCPAN) has applauded Delta for being the first to effectively launch the State Health Insurance programme in the country.
Tagged “Health Insurance In Nigeria – The journey so far and the way forward,” the meeting had several health management organisations (HMOs), officials of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), government functionaries and pharmacists.
Speaking at the association’s mid year meeting which held at NECA House, Alausa, Lagos recently, Dr Umar Sanda, president of HCPAN explained that the scheme launched in 2005 by former president of the country, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has not lived up to expectations.
Sanda said that it is unfortunate to note that only Delta State has so far effectively started operating the State Health Insurance programme to date.
“Much as we like to acknowledge the fact that the scheme has made progress since inception about 11years, it is obvious to all that there are more problems than existing solutions. Not fewer than 4 per cent (%) of the population have so far registered and these are mostly Federal Civil Servants.
“Unfortunately, there are problems of low registration due to poor awareness of the scheme, HMOs, pharmacists and nurses also have grievances against NHIS and vice versa. On the other hand, we also cannot rule out the fact that providers too are complaining of non-payment, delayed payment and under payment by HMOs”, he lamented.
