Health
THE National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has confirmed its readiness to approve the commencement of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund Programme in Gombe State.
Dr Yusuf Usman, Representative, Gombe State Healthcare Contributory Management Agency (GoHealth), stated this on Thursday, in Gombe, at a Primary Healthcare Centre (PHC) .
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that over 25,565 vulnerable prospective beneficiaries have been enrolled by GoHealth, which is awaiting the accreditation of its facilities by the NHIS.
Usman said that the team toured various PHCs in the state to facilitate the smooth accreditation and take-off of basic health services.
“This is part of government’s effort towards ensuring that healthcare is accessible to all, despite its financial standing,’’ the representative said.
He added that the team, in collaboration with the NHIS, began the assessment to validate the healthcare facilities for the provision of basic minimum package of health services.
“We started about two days ago and we are to accredit 114 PHCs and four secondary healthcare facilities that have not been accredited with the NHIS scheme,’’ he said.
The representative noted that the team was impressed with the state of the facilities visited and that their observations would be considered in improving health services.
“The team was impressed with the transformation seen in the health sector, especially in the area of infrastructure and human resources.
“I’m optimistic that none of the facilities in the 114 wards will be dropped because they have met the standard.
“All that is required from the NHIS is provided in those hospitals, to ensure they provide basic health services. We are pleased with the NHIS visit, and in turn, they are pleased with our facilities.
“As you know, we just finished an important aspect of the exercise which is enrollment; next is to accredit the facilities to ensure that they are able to offer the minimum services required,” Usman said.
The Commissioner for Health, Dr Habu Dahiru, said the state would affect the observations raised by the NHIS towards providing better services.
Dahiru said that some of the facilities were short of manpower and human resource, citing the example of General Hospital, Nafada, with only three personnel.
According to him, he is going to look into the matter and deploy personnel immediately to fill the gap.
He added that the healthcare provision fund programme was just starting, so the government would leverage their experience to provide health services to the people. (NAN)
– Apr. 16, 2021 @ 08:32 GMT
Tags: Gombe awaits NHIS nod for health scheme takeoff –Official
