Working documents which includes Standard Treatment Guidelines that contains all services and drugs covered by the Federal Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS), were launched in Abuja.
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The documents which were presented to the public in the nation’s capital Abuja, is aimed at providing enrollee with firsthand information on services rendered by the FHIS.
While presenting the documents to the public, the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola who instructed managements of the scheme to devise means to include terminal diseases and other life-threatening sicknesses in the health services of the agency, suggested that the aged be included as beneficiaries of the initiative.
Mr Olusade, who noted that ailments, such as cancer, liver related problems, sickle cell, are highly expensive to manage, therefore called for the need to get donors and other stakeholders to support such expansion.
He added that, “In order to adequately cover these broad spectrum of expansions, there will be need for managers of the Scheme to devise strategies that can woo in more Local and International Partners and Donor Agencies to identify with the Scheme.”
“the Administration has set process in motion to give legal backing to the scheme to make it more inclusive in its coverage to wider spectrum of the FCT especially the poor, vulnerable and the disabled.
“In view of the importance of affordable and accessible healthcare delivery, it will interest you to know that His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari has also mandated the FCT Administration to ensure that the coverage of the health insurance scheme is expanded to cover all residents of the territory, both formal and informal sectors.
“In a bid to actualize Mr. President’s mandate, we have on our part as an Administration, set in motion a process that will give the Scheme a legal framework in order to make the Scheme more inclusive in its coverage and operations, which will also capture the poor, vulnerable and the disabled. These categories of beneficiaries will also gain from the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF). This Fund provides free insurance cover for them.
“It is important to bring to your notice that the BHCPF is a Federal Government Health Initiative which the FCT Administration has keyed into and met all the requirements for fund disbursement. Already, over 9,000 poor and vulnerable in the FCT are currently being enrolled on this programmer,” he said.
The Permanent Secretary mandated stakeholders to come up with modalities that will guarantee improved service delivery to beneficiaries of the Scheme, warning that the administration will not condone any form of misappropriation of funds.
According to him, it is imperative to enjoin all those directly involved in the management of the Funds of the Agency to ensure prudent and optimal utilization of allocations made available to the Agency, as the Administration will not tolerate any form of financial sleaze and misappropriation of funds.
In his welcome remarks, the Director of the FHIS, Dr Ahmed Danfulani, said the working documents which includes the Standard Treatment Guidelines, Operational Guidelines, Benefit Packages and 3 other Documents, is expected to enhance the effectiveness of the FCT Health Insurance Scheme for the benefit of FCT residents.
He said the documents which was conceived over three years ago, is due for review every two years to capture recent realities in line with universal health coverage.
On his part, the Acting Secretary FCT Health and Human Services, Dr. Mohammed Kawu, expressed hopeful that the strategic documents will provide seamless relationship between health insurance service providers and the enrollees.
Kawu who was represented by the Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Healthcare Board, Dr Ndaeyo Iwot, assured that the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat will continue to provide the required eadership as well as to ensure that the documents gets all the legal frameworks needed for it’s implementation.
