Nation
NHIS To Go Digital By Year End, Says Executive Secretary
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is to digitalise its services before the end of this year, the Executive Secretary of the organisation, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, announced in Abuja yesterday.
Sambo told newsmen that the digitalisation was part of initiatives to herald the birth of what he tagged electronic-NHIS or e-NHIS.
The executive secretary, who is the latest top government functionary to feature at a forum, said that the management of NHIS had already developed a framework to achieve the e-NHIS policy.
According to him, e-NHIS is a major reform that is being seriously pursued by the NHIS management to change the way the scheme does its business completely.
He explained that “the concept of e-NHIS is to allow for a paradigm shift from the manual mechanism of driving the company’s business process to an automated one.
“We want to see a process where enrollment will be automated and from the comfort of your bedroom, you can enroll into the NHIS register; select your provider, select your Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) and even make payment.
“So, people will only come to NHIS office to get their Identification Cards (ID).
“We are even musing on the idea of electronic ID cards, so that you can just walk into the healthcare facility and you will be attended to.
“The scheme will have minimum requirement for the healthcare facilities so that they can continue to be in NHIS.’’
Sambo said also that through the e-NHIS, the entire health system could become automated, so as to make things easier for everyone.
He explained further that “with e-NHIS, we can even have electronic medical records of patients, giving their medical history till date.
“Electronic medical records also create room for tele-medicine and many more possibilities.”
The executive secretary assured that the scheme had already received approval from the Federal Executive Council to deploy the process of a shift from manual business process to an automated one.
He said that in addition, the NHIS had adjusted its operations to achieve maximum results in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At the beginning of COVID-19, we looked at our mandate to see what should be done to ensure that NHIS adapts to the changes brought by the pandemic.
“In fact, it is on record that at the beginning of COVID-19, most of our healthcare providers had no sources of income and we were afraid of the fact that enrollees in the NHIS would be turned back.
“We were not even sure that we will continue to have funding to be able to sustain our programmes.’’
Sambo said that the management of the NHIS had to modify the payment pattern to ensure effective service delivery.
“So, what we did quickly was to look at our business process, where we paid premium to HMOs on monthly basis and they in turn, paid premium to healthcare facilities.
“We modified that to quarterly payment and I can tell you without fear of contradiction that it was the quarterly funding that stabilised most of the healthcare facilities during the onset of COVID-19.”
Rivers state Deputy Governor Professor Ngozi Nma Odu has commended “The Port Harcourt City One Love,”a Port Harcourt based humanitarian orgnisation For it’s commitment towards alleviating the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable in the society.
Professor Ngozi Nma Odu said this while speaking at this year’s edition of “operation feed the needy” a yearly outreach program of “The Port Harcourt City One Love ” in Port Harcourt.
The Deputy Governor said by feeding more than sixty thousands hungry people within the past six years, the Port Harcourt City One Love Movement has distinguished itself as a club that cares for the less privilege in the society.
She commended the , organization for listing eleven thousand persons to be fed in the current exercise.
Meanwhile The Port Harcourt City One Love has planned a permanent solution to the problem of feeding the poor in the state.
The leader of the group Mr Idaere Gogo Ogan who said this in an interview with newsmen during the distribution of food items to the poor and vulnerables in Port Harcourt said the organization is planning a permanent food kitchen where poor and vulnerable persons can work in anytime and get fed.
Idaere Gogo Ogan said more than sixty thousands poor and vulnerable persons across Port Harcourt City and environs have been fed since the inception of “The operation feed the needy” program six years ago,adding that so far sixty thousands poor and vulnerable persons have beneffited.
He described the group as a platform to promote friendship, brotherhood, community development empathy and feeding the less privilege and hungry people
“That’s what we are doing today here,so we started the exercise six years ago”.he said.
Ogan said the effort was a private sector driven initiative but added “it also involves people in Government because the platform does not recognize any division,we bring everybody together in unity , friendship and brotherhood”he said.
He said the effort will go along way in alleviating hunger especially following the prevailing hunger in the country.
According to him “you know the country is very tough, people are hungry people are starving, there is a whole lot of economic hardship,so for us, this is just our own way of reaching out, our own social contribution to what is very difficult”he said.
Over eleven thousand persons were fed in the just concluded exercise.
Areas of coverage include, Isaac Boro park, Port Harcourt prison/Macoba, Borokiri/Enugu waterside Bundu areas Waterlines and others.
Some of the beneficiaries including an 80 years old widow commended the movement for the annual programm and urged other organizations to emulate them
John Bibor,/Esuuk Oyet/Suotor Memoye /Jeremiah Hannah
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