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| Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu |
Minister: Free health services not sustainable Says NHIS gulped N4.1trn
by James Emejo
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Monday said it
would
require a total of about $4.5 billion to make quality health
services
accessible to Nigerians.
Specifically, it said at the national level, it would
require about $3
billion to fix the health system while the bankable
financing need for
Primary Health Institutions (PHIs) alone is estimated at
$1.5 billion.
The corporation, in a new study titled: ‘Health in Africa
Initiative:
Private Health Market Studies, Nigeria,’ which was launched
day
at the Nigeria Healthcare Investment Summit taking place in
Abuja,
said effort should be made towards prioritising support to
other
health sub-sector including hospitals, clinics, laboratories
and
nursing home to allow them have access to finance.
It said pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and Health
Maintenance Organisations (HMOs), including medical
equipment
suppliers appeared to be better positioned to access
financing from
various sources with relatively minimal DFI facilities.
Also the Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said
the present
free public health policy had become unsustainable as only
about eight
per cent of the Nigerian population had benefited from the
National
Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
This, according to him, fell short of the federal
government’s target
to have at least 30 per cent of the population covered by
2015.
The minister said it had become necessary to have other
sources of
funding for the health sectors as about N4.1 trillion was
needed to
implement the NHIS between 2010 to 2015.
He said a lot of incentives were underway to encourage
private sector
investment in the country’s health sector.
Chukwu said part of the measures already taken to attract
private
investment to the sector was by allowing hospital medical
equipment to be imported duty-free into the country.
He added that going by the way the health system was
currently being
operated, free medical delivery could not be sustained if
left to the
government alone.
However, medical practitioners argued that there was urgent
need for
government to address the current conflicting regulatory
framework to
pave the way for the transformation of the sector.
Speaking at the occasion, former Health Minister, Prof.
Eyitayo Lambo,
who moderated a panel discussion on the health
transformation agenda, said for the current health transformation agenda to be
successful, the bealth bill currently before the National Assembly should be
incorporated into the Nigerian constitution.
However, the IFC report stated, among other things, that
regulatory
mechanisms to enhance quality of healthcare needed to be
improved,
ensuring the enforcement of laws and regulations in the
sector.
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