National Health Insurance Authority in Adamawa state pledges better service delivery to enrollees.
By Babangida Galleon
The National health insurance authority has assured that henceforth enrollees will experience smooth health care services in the country.
This assurance was given by the Adamawa state coordinator of the National health insurance authority, Malam Abdulhakim Aliyu Musa during its seventh capacity building engagement with relevant stakeholders in Yola, the Adamawa state capital.
Mallam Abdulhakim Aliyu Musa Said with the National health insurance authority bill which was signed into law by former president, mohammadu Buhari and the new operational guidelines released recently, the operations of the authority will further be enhanced to strengthen health service delivery in the country.
The state coordinator said the need for the authority to be engaging with its enrollees, which is an initiative by the director general of the authority necessitated this engagement so that the enrollees feedbacks can also be captured for effective service delivery across the country.
According to the state coordinator, the newly documented guidelines will replace the former one and most of the contents were based on the authority ‘s experiences and challenges over the years.
The state coordinator maintained that they are having a good working relationship with the state health insurance scheme, adding that a lot of changes had been made which would further reduce time for approval of authorization codes as well as referral issues.
Speaking on the new operational guidelines, Doctor Ibrahim Anas Usman of the National health insurance authority Said significant changes that were made during the signing of the new act by former president, Muhammad Buhari made it necessary for the National health insurance authority to equally develop its operational guidelines.
Ibrahim Anas Said part of the act is to make health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians and legal residents.
According to doctor Anas , for the new act to become more active, there is need for the provisions of the new guidelines as it checks all challenges experienced in previous years.
He said the national health insurance authority has entered into a contract with about thirty pharmaceutical companies that will manufacture branded drugs for the authority, so as to bring to an end the issues related to substandard drugs as decried by enrollees ever the years.
Also speaking on the Rights of enrollees, the head of programs of the National health insurance authority Yola office, Abubakar Lawal Emphasized that enrollees do have rights and should also demand for them whenever they felt surcharge, adding that they have the right to know the drugs that were prescribed for them as well as how the cost was arrived at amongst other things.
Some of the stake holders who attended the meeting expressed confidence on the operations of the National health insurance authority, calling on the authority to ensure proper checks on the operations of the HMOs and health facilities for improved health service delivery across the country.
The federal government has recently launched the operational guidelines for the 2022 National Health Insurance Authority, National health insurance authority Act as part of efforts to ensure all Nigerians have access to affordable healthcare services.
And during event, the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, said access to affordable quality health care for all Nigerians is key on the path to achieving Universal Health Coverage.
