The Federal Government has been advised to focus on the Community Based Social Health Insurance (CB-SHIP) as the structural framework for taking the primary health care programme to the people at the grassroots level.
Premier Medicaid International (PMI), a frontline Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), gave this advice at its Annual General Meeting held at the Hypertension Clinic, Government Reservation Area, Iyaganku, Ibadan.
It urged the National Assembly to pay special attention to the full implementation of the National Health Insurance Act to accelerate the universal coverage of the scheme which was expected to have been attained by 2015.
In a communique issued at the end of the AGM, signed by Dr. Kayode Obembe, Vice Chairman/ Chief Executive, the organisation observed that the present situation whereby only Federal Government employees were enjoying the National Health Insurance Scheme was not good enough and called on the administrators of the scheme to review its strategy to ensure that states and local governments take up health insurance for all their employees.
The organization also charged the National Assembly to find ways of ensuring that people in the informal sectors of the economy, particularly in the rural communities, were also accommodated in the scheme, saying that every citizen deserved to benefit.
While commending the Federal Government for its efforts in the health sector, it urged President Goodluck Jonathan to sign the National Health bill into law to remove many of the existing obstacles experienced by Nigerians in accessing adequate and qualitative health care.
The organization commended international donor agencies that had been funding the programmes of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), adding that their contributions had made significant impact in the reduction of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity in the rural communities.
It noted that inadequate funding was a major constraint to the achievement of the programmes of the MDGs in the health sector and called on state governments to rise up to the challenge of their obligations to provide the necessary counterpart funding for such programmes.
The organization also reiterated its commitment to qualitative health care delivery adding that its quality assurance department had put in place monitoring teams that had been going round health provider hospitals under its watch to ensure that patients received prompt and effective medical attention.
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