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From Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The House of Representatives has resolved to probe the under-performance of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the country.
Consequently, the House mandated its Committees on Healthcare Services and Health Institutions to undertake the probe and report back to it within four weeks for further legislative actions.
The joint panel, as part of its assignment, is expected to identify challenges in the scheme and recommend solutions to enhance the efficiency of the NHIS.
This followed the adoption of a motion by Billy Osawaru calling for an investigation into the challenges confronting the NHIS and Health Maintenance Organizations ( HMOs).
Osawaru, in his motion, told the House that though the NHIS was established to provide access to good healthcare for Nigerians, it is presently confronted with several challenges.
These challenges, according to him, include low coverage, inadequate funding and inefficient service delivery. He said Nigerians had continued to face challenges in accessing quality healthcare due to financial constraints and inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
“Despite the efforts of the government to adequately back the NHIS, its funding is generally considered inadequate and this causes delay in payment to healthcare providers (Hospital/Clinics) by Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) and this in turn affects the quality of services rendered to beneficiaries.
“This delays in payment to healthcare providers by HMOs, the hospitals and clinic, who render these services now choose to play with the health of the citizens, which in some cases, result to avoidable death of subscribers,” the lawmaker stated.
Osawaru expressed concerns that if the challenges of NHIS and HMOs were not addressed, Nigerians who are the beneficiaries would continue to face barriers in accessing quality healthcare services, exacerbating health disparities and forcing out-of-pocket payment for healthcare services, which would increase financial hardship.
