NMA canvasses expansion of health insurance in Delta

By Nosa Akenzua, Asaba

The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) Delta state chapter has challenged the state government to expand its health insurance scheme to tertiary health services.

State Chairman of the association, Dr. Omo Ekeneam, who spoke to journalists on Wednesday in Asaba, said the demand was informed by the inability of the doctors to access the benefits of the scheme that stops at the primary healthcare level, lamenting that the current percentage deduction under the scheme was based on the total emoluments of doctors which significantly contributed to further reduce their take home pay.

“Currently a doctor in the employment of the state government has a cardiac condition and another is battling with breast cancer. This is in addition to so many others having various health challenges that require care at the tertiary level, but the state contributory health scheme are primary healthcare at that level.

“The service currently being offered by the scheme are primary healthcare, hence the doctors who are paying so much more than his contemporaries in the civil service are the least likely to access the services of the scheme,” the chairman disclosed.

Noting with recognition that health is a social service in which the rich pay for the health of the poor, Dr. Ekeneam said that when the amount being paid by the rich becomes a burden, it shows there is a problem with the scheme.

“What we are saying is that the scope of the scheme should be expanded to cater for the enrolees who require tertiary medical services,” he added.

He regretted the salary of doctors is no longer enough to take care of their needs, saying that due to the present economic realities, it has become imperative for the state government to exempt their allowances from the state tax system.