National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has warned Health Care Facilities (HCFs) and Healthcare Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) against cutting corners in the discharge of their duties under the scheme.
The North-East Zonal Coordinator of the scheme, Alhaji Ma’aji Abdu, gave the warning yesterday at a one-day interactive forum with NHIS accredited HCFs and HMOs at the Federal Secretariat, Bauchi.
He said the success of health insurance in the country depends on the sincerity of purpose by all stakeholders and appealed to them to utilise the opportunity provided by the forum to openly discuss with NHIS staff on how to move the scheme forward.
In his remark, the Bauchi State Coordinator of the scheme, Sani Garba Affa, said the essence of the forum was to provide a platform for cross fertilisation of ideas among stakeholders.
He said the recent creation of state offices by the scheme was intended to expand the activities of the scheme and to bring services closer to the people.
According to Affa, part of the objectives of the health insurance were to protect families from the financial hardship of huge medical bills and improve access to good healthcare services among different income groups, and called key-players to work towards the realisation of the objectives.
He appealed to HCFs and HMOs to avail themselves with the operational guidelines and procedures involved in order to ensure hitch-free service delivery to enrollees.
The coordinator noted that the interaction was part of the scheme’s policy to update stakeholders on the recent expansion in the activities of the scheme.
He said such forum would avail stakeholders the opportunity to discuss matters concerning service provision to enrollees, noting that the state office will continue to engage key stakeholders for the benefit of the programme.
Participants were drawn from various HCFs and HMOs in Bauchi State attended the interaction.