NHIS enrols 4m Nigerians into scheme
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) says the scheme has registered no fewer than four million enrolees under its formal sector programme and the voluntary scheme since 2005 till date.
NHIS Executive Secretary, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, disclosed this in Abuja on Wednesday.
Sambo state that the number of NHIS enrolees is growing daily as more people register to be part of the scheme, adding that the agency is working to cover the informal sector.
“We have close to four million enrolees in the formal sector and the voluntary social health insurance; this figure does not include the figure that states and the private, who are subscribing through Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) are covering.
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“As it is, retirees are not part of the NHIS, but we have Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) goal to attain; the SDGs goal is talking about attainment of universal health coverage.
“Also, we have presidential mandate that NHIS should accelerate towards achieving UHC in line with SDGs.
“Where we are today, with the law establishing health insurance, that is not mandatory, but we have to ensure that the law is amended so that it will now be mandatory.
“If you have a mandatory scheme; it therefore means that government will have to provide resources for people to be covered,” he added.
Sambo said the government has to provide resources for those to be covered while the private sector and organisations would provide resources for people before other financing will now come into play.
