Blame FG for NHIS/HMO crisis —Pharmacists

Bukola Adebayo

The National Chairman of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, Dr. Albert Alkali, has said that the Federal Government is not blameless in the crisis between the managers of the National Health Insurance Scheme and Health Management Organisations in the country.

Alkali noted that NHIS managers had implemented policies that allowed corruption to thrive under the scheme.

He spoke at a briefing in Lagos as part of activities leading to the ACPN 36th Annual Conference.

According to him, the global capitation method of payment gives room for funds to be embezzled by practitioners who want to cheat patients and other providers involved in the scheme.

He said, “Under the NHIS, one practitioner is given bulk payment to pay others. We know you cannot give a particular service provider money and expect him to give it to another service provider; he will want to retain everything.

“They had blocked the fee-for-service payment system that should have been the ideal method and this is why it failed. We should go back to the basis and straighten it, carry along all the health care providers and stop the sentiment of one provider taking everything.”

He said it was unnecessary to scrap the HMOs as suggested by the Federal Government, adding that their function was relevant to the scheme as they were the ones that sourced for enrollees.

Alkali said, “It is always easy to put the blame on HMOs but the NHIS that is supposed to play a regulatory role failed to uproot the bad eggs for it to serve as a deterrent to others.

“When the operators connive with the HMOs, they cannot carry out their regulatory role anymore and that is what brought us to where we are now. We want to move forward and Nigerians are tired of waiting, so both parties should fix the problem.”

Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government has begun the sensitisation of residents and civil servants in the state on the benefits of its newly introduced N650 monthly health insurance scheme.

Receiving the staff of the Oyo State Health Insurance Scheme OYHIS and six health maintenance organisations , the state Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun, reiterated the government’s commitment to affordable, accessible and quality health care delivery, urging the people of the state to take advantage of the  scheme.

In his address, the Executive Secretary of OYHIS, Dr. Sola Akande, said that the scheme would reduce mortality rate among residents as well as increase access to basic health care delivery as enrollees only had to pay  N650 naira per month.

Akande said, “Under the plan, enrollees can pay in two instalment. As much as possible, we want to ensure no one is left out and this is the first  initiative  of its kind by any state government in the country.”

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Blame FG for NHIS/HMO crisis —Pharmacists

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