Dr Chukwudi Njelita, Chief Medical Director of Rock Foundation Hospital, Awka, has called on Governments to increase access to healthcare services for Nigerians by making health insurance free.
Njelita, a private practitioner, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Awka on Wednesday that the number of out-of-pocket patients in the country was still alarming despite the existence of various health insurance schemes.
He said that though health insurance awareness was high, the subscription level among Nigerians was still low due to the inability of most people, especially rural and low-income families, to pay insurance premiums.
The expert commended the Federal and Anambra Governments for their health insurance initiatives and efforts to bring healthcare closer to the people through health insurance schemes.
He said that despite the sensitisation, people had not fully embraced the scheme due to poverty.
“The subscription level for health insurance is still low; while the awareness level is as high as 80 per cent, enrollment is about 20 per cent, judging by what we do here.
“Out-of-pocket patients are still much more than the insurance patients because insurance patients are known as contained in the list, but out-of-pocket patients are in the record and those who do not even come to the hospital.
“The Federal Government has to step in because many people cannot pay the premiums that qualify them for the services.
“People who are not civil servants constitute the greater number, and they are not in the scheme, saying it will take about N4 trillion to enrol 140 million people,” he said.
Njelita said that the healthcare delivery system was becoming expensive in Nigeria and called for the government’s support to enable the operators to render services at affordable costs.
He said that the brain drain in the sector may not end soon unless the remuneration for health workers improves and the capital for setting up health facilities becomes cheaper.
“Cost of service delivery is increasing by the day, considering the cost of medicines, equipment and health workers’ wages, which must be enough to keep them in the hospital.
“Most medicines and diagnostic equipment are imported, so their cost is affected by the foreign exchange values.
“We also have the problem of the high cost of energy, either with diesel or the public power sources, and these are some of the reasons running private hospitals has become difficult, and many have shut down,” he said.
