The National Health Insurance Scheme, NHIS, is to capture all Federal Government employees into its scheme in the next Five years.

The Executive Secretary, NHIS, Professor Mohammed Sambo made this known during a dialogue session at the Fourth Legislative Summit on Health in Abuja.

Professor Sambo who noted that the current structure of the Scheme was flexible and effective, expressed optimism that the Basic Health Care Provision Fund for all Nigerians would be fully implemented by 2030.

NHIS Executive Secretary, Prof Sambo

“in the next 5years, all the Federal Government employees will come into the system, the mandatory bill will bring about all the private sector, the States, the local government employees and we will have an opportunity to develop innovative health care financing strategy that will be accepted by the National Assembly”

On his part, the Executive Secretary Anambra State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi, called for a Legislative Framework to involve the informal sector in achieving the “health for all” campaign.

“we need to find a way to begin to formalize all the informal sectors that we have on our society. Over 90% of Nigeria population is in the informal sector I.e the taxi drivers, the okada riders, the market women, the farmers and what have you. How can we as a people begin to think of getting this individuals who daily buy tickets to operate , how can we get them to pay insurance premium using these tickets. That is a key thing that we should be talking about”

Dr. Onyemaechi also called for institutional reforms to reduce the level of corruption in the health sector and enhance healthcare delivery in the country.

RADIO NIGERIA

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