Ben Ezechime, Enugu
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has called for more private sector enrollment as in the programme to achieve better healthcare for Nigerians.
The Director General of the Authority, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, made the call on Wednesday at a Stakeholders Consultative Meeting held in Enugu.
Sambo, who spoke through the Enugu Zonal Coordinator of NHIA, Mrs Ocho Ahunna, said the meeting was designed to evaluate the programme implementation at the grassroots by implementing partners.
According to Ahunna, the meeting with stakeholders was a nationwide exercise designed to ensuring that people at the grassroots are captured in the enrollment programmes.
“I have been to Abia, Ebonyi and now, we are in Enugu.
“We are working on achieving the Universal Health Coverage (UHC), one of the Social Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030,” she said.
She also said that in Enugu State, the programme had achieved tremendous progress.
In the same vein, the Acting Coordinator of NHIA, Enugu State, Ms Ajemba Mabel, said the state had exceeded it’s target of enrollment for the year 2023.
She said the state office had carried out statewide sensitisation on private sector enrollment, adding that there was massive enrollment in the state currently.
Dr Edith Okolo, Executive Secretary of Enugu State Agency for Universal Health Coverage (AUHC), solicited the support of private individuals to enroll as many of their wards as possible.
According to her, the state government had embarked on the upgrade of Primary Health Care facilities in all the wards across the state with the view to ensuring UHC by 2030.
Okolo said that the health insurance scheme had already been inculcated into their programmes.
Mr Laz Uroko, Chairman Enugu State Primary Health Care Coordinators, blamed slow pace of implementation of health insurance at the grassroots on lack of support from local government chairmen.
