All shareholders are jointly culpable for the degeneration the Nigerian Health Insurance Scheme has faced over the years, Usman Yusuf, the Executive Secretary of the scheme has said.
“They tolerated abuses and breaches of confidence for far too long”, Mr. Yusuf said in a statement by Ayo Osinlu, spokesperson of the scheme on Thursday.
The statement is the outcome of an interactive session attended by members of the Governing Council, management of NHIS and representatives of critical shareholders of the sub-sector.
The shareholders are the managers of the scheme. They include the Health Maintenance Organisations, HMOs, Health Service Providers, HSPs and the scheme which is the regulator.
The HMOs are the go-betweens in the scheme. They sit between the beneficiaries of NHIS and the service providers (hospitals). By this description, they are better known as managers of the scheme’s funds.
The scheme which is the regulatory body now monitors and regulates the activities of the HMOs and the service providers.
According to Mr. Yusuf, a professor, ”dutiful observance of relevant laws and operational guidelines by all was the only way forward”.
In her remarks, the chairman of the newly inaugurated governing council of the scheme, Enyantu Ifenne, reiterated the resolve of the council to honour the place and voice of all shareholders in the new dispensation.
She said the breaches and outright disregard of obligations and duties as witnessed in the past will no longer be tolerated.
Ms. Ifenne regretted the poor quality of service under the scheme in the past resulting in the ”erosion of public confidence, enrollee dissatisfaction and demotivation of some sections of service providers”.
She said the shareholder engagements of the council is aimed at identifying the challenges on the different fronts, with the intention to find acceptable solutions to them.
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