The Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) said the
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) which was flagged off since June 2005
has covered less than 7 per cent of the Nigerian population.
Dr Kayode Obembe, NMA
president, said this recently in Abuja to mark this year's International Day of
Universal Health Coverage commemorated every December 12.
The NMA requested that government at all levels should
redirect attention to community health insurance as a panacea for the 70 per
cent out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by Nigerians.
The NMA said, "The most
primitive and primordial form of health financing is out of pocket. It is
curative, has budget constraint, providers are not prepaid and prepared,
therefore, the need to ask for deposit even in public hospitals."
"The community-based
insurance triangle should be established at every geopolitical ward of the
federation. The fund should be channelled from NHIS to community level with the
Health Management Organisation (HMO) as the accounting partner."
The NMA also provided
guidelines on how to benefit from package, account signatories, source of
premiums and other ways of raising funds including tax from tobacco, alcohol,
air travel tickets and value added tax.
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