The Association of Nigerian Private Medical Practitioners (ANPMP), Edo State, organized a monthly Hybrid CME meeting to strengthen efforts at revolutionizing affordable and quality healthcare services in Nigeria for the benefit of private health facilities.
The event with the topic: “Understanding the Operations of NHIA and its Benefits to Private Health Facilities”, was held on Wednesday at the ANPMP Secretariat in Benin City, the Edo State capital.
The keynote speaker, Amb. Dcn. Theodore Osas Ehannire, Edo State Coordinator, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), in his remark, noted some advantages of NHIA in private health facilities, which include Increased Patient Volume, Financial Stability, Quality Assurance and Improvement and Access to Resources and Support.
NHIA, a federal government agency formerly known as NHIS (National Health Insurance Scheme) operates under the National Health Insurance Act (2004) and is overseen by the Federal Ministry of Health.
In an interview with The Nigerian Observer, the Chairman of ANPMP, Dr. Godfrey Imuetinyan stated that the vision of NHIA is to ensure that all Nigerians have access to quality healthcare without financial hardship.
“We are trying to discourage the act of pocket payment for health. Actually, the challenge of healthcare has been the finances, many people at the time of being ill may not have the resources to pay for their health services, and so the NHIA comes in to intervene and help in managing healthcare to bring down the cost, take care of the poor and those in the lower class.
“There are various strata of the NHIA, the enrollees, the government employees which is called the formal sector we also have the informal sector, the less privileged, and also those that are handicapped and cannot afford health care services,” Dr. Imuetinyan explained.
On his part, a distinguished medical practitioner, Hon. Dr. Otamere Aigbogun, stated that private medical practitioners are discouraged because of the low number of enrollees administered unlike that of public and government hospitals.
“NHIA is a good initiative by the Federal Government but because of the implementation some of the constraints are the enrollees that are not enough in the private hospital,” Dr. Aigbogun said.
Furthermore, one of the speakers, Dr. Iyen Osbem narrated the limited interaction between physiotherapists and private hospital owners in Edo State.
“According to the survey, only about 10% of privately owned health facilities in Edo State have a physiotherapy consultant working for them in their facility,” Dr. Iyen Osbem said.
