Buhari, Nigerians in a hurry to see results in health sector

President Muhammadu Buhari is eager to see result of positive change in the health sector, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire has said.

Ehanire said as Nigerians are demanding for result, so also is Buhari demanding results from those in charge of Health in the country.

He spoke at the strategic stakeholders forum for Health Care Providers (HCPs) organised by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Abuja.

The Minister said significant improvement is very important to the administration; hence there is no room for failure.

“May I remind you, ladies and gentlemen, that significant improvement of the socio-economic well-being of Nigerians is very close to the federal government’s heart, especially in this second tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

“Therefore, no inappropriate practices or outright failures that are able to draw back the chances of government’s success will be accommodated.”

The Minister also assured that “the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari is poised to rejuvenate all organs and units of government for unfettered performance, especially in this second term of the administration.”

While also commending the Executive Secretary, for the ongoing reforms in the scheme, the minister said, “Expectedly, all eyes are on the health sector to undertake self-assessments on many fronts towards repositioning itself for the task ahead. This is to be expected, considering the strategic position of the sector with regards to social well-being and human capital development.”

These reforms, he stressed will bring about revitalisation of the scheme.

“It is on the strength of this that I wish to seize this opportunity to call on all stakeholders to take full advantage of the reforms to engage in frank conversations around the issues that have dogged the wheels of the Scheme in the past, so that we can chart a better course as we go into the future.

Of particular concern here are the Health Care Providers accredited under the Scheme, who are invariably very critical stakeholders of NHIS.

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“This is particularly so, when you consider that the providers are the ones among the stakeholders with the most frequent and intimate enrollee encounter. The import of this is that most impressions of the enrollee about NHIS are formed from their experiences at the service point, giving the providers the privilege to influence largely the image of the Scheme.

“Indeed, the testimonies of enrollees about their experiences with providers are critical about how attractive or not the Scheme appears to the general and target publics.

“It goes without saying that the reforms we are implementing may not achieve much if enrollees continue to return from hospital visits with tales of services that are dissatisfactory, as well as discourteous handling by hospital staff.

“Therefore I have no doubt that the providers can see why they must key into the reforms at NHIS, by frankly addressing internal reforms among themselves”.

Ehanire also spoke on the issue of delayed payment to healthcare providers by Health Management Organisations (HMOs), urging healthcare providers to contribute to the reform.

He therefore assured the stakeholders of government support in the effort towards making Health Insurance work.

The Minister of State, Dr. Olorunmibe Mamora charged all NHIS healthcare providers on the need to provide qualitative healthcare service for the enrollees.

NHIS Executive Secretary, Prof. Mohammed Nasir Sambo urged healthcare providers to sit up for the task ahead, as the administration seeks to provide quality and affordable healthcare service to Nigerians.