One kobo-per-second call-charge will boost health fund by N172bn yearly

As part of its innovative ways of financing healthcare for the poor in the country, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) yesterday proposed one-kobo-per-second charge on every phone call in the country, be remitted to healthcare fund.

At the charge of one-kobo-per-second, it was projected that the nation could raise as much as N172 billion yearly to fund healthcare for the vulnerable group.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a three-day workshop on improving financing access to maternal, newborn and child health services for the poor in Nigeria, holding in Calabar, Cross-River State, the Executive Secretary of NHIS, Dr. Dogo Mohammed said that the innovation is important to improve affordable healthcare service for the poor.

His words: “There are about 80 million estimated telephone lines in the country. The national airtime utilisation per day is 10 minutes, of which the calculation could raise as much as N172 billion in a year, to fund health care. This is about five times more than the amount the current Health Bill, if passed into law will provide. What we need is the political will to put in place this policy. It is an avenue for all of us to be involved in contributing to health funding in the country,” he said.

He added that despite various government’s intervention, the health system is still challenged by unbalanced and inequitable distribution of resources (skilled personnel, healthcare providers etc) in favour of the urban elites; “high out of the pocket expenditure (OOPE) in the face of extreme poverty and low literacy and awareness on health amongst the population.”

Experts at the occasion were unanimous that health financing is a major problem in accessing affordable healthcare in the country.  Over 69 per cent of funding is out-of-pocket, in a country where 54.4 per cent live on less than two-dollar a-day.

The biggest share of the attendant burden, according to Dogo, is borne by the informal sector constituting more than 75 per cent of the Nigerian population.

“Pregnant women and children under-five are the most vulnerable of this population sub-group. Any effort towards addressing our deplorable health indices will have to give serious consideration to the needs of these special groups.

“Because of the high level of poverty prevailing in the country, there is the need to create a safety net to ensure equitable access to healthcare for this group, particularly women and children who constitute 78 per cent of attendees in hospitals,” he said.

Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Emmanuel Abanida added that affordable quality healthcare services for the vulnerable group cannot be ignored if Nigeria must achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Vision 2020.

He said that about 100 million Nigerians need to be covered, being the vulnerable and the voiceless, in well structures financing mechanism.

“Adopting equitable health financing strategies that are sensitive to the needs of the poor, in the country, is critical. This will be one of the steps towards achieving universal health coverage, especially using appropriate financial risk protection mechanisms in Nigeria,” he said.

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By Wole Oyebade

Source: The Guardian

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