The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enable corps members to access affordable and quality health care across Nigeria towards attaining Universal Health Coverage.
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The signing of MOU between the two agencies brings to fruition a plan which collaboration dates back 2011.
The Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Prof Mohammed Sambo said that an important chapter has been opened in the pursuit of universal health coverage (UHC) in Nigeria, stressing that extending health insurance to all Nigerians was an integral part of President Muhammadu Buhari’s Next Level agenda on health.
He recalled deep efforts made by the leadership of NHIS and NYSC in the build up to initiation of coverage which included collaboration with members of the national assembly to ensure appropriation of funds in 2021 budget for corps members’ health insurance and the ministry of finance for release of funds for the purpose.
The health insurance boss noted that healthcare coverage of corpers could not have come at a better time, coinciding with the upward review of of their allowances, urging them to reciprocate the various efforts of the government in youth development.
Reviewing the various efforts of NHIS aimed at reforming the health insurance sector, Sambo said that the introduction of its flagship service platform, Group Individual Family Social Health Insurance Programme (GIFSHIP) was a game changer that held the prospect of bringing every Nigerian into the health insurance ecosystem.
He said this against the backdrop of the recent keying into the programme by members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
According to Sambo, *”No self respecting nation can lay claim to development without health care for its people….with GIFSHIP we are leaving no one behind in our determination to see that all Nigerians have access to unqualified healthcare”*
In his response, the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Brigadier General Shuaibu Ibrahim, who holds a doctorate degree in history, stated that history was being made with the extension of health insurance to corpers, noting that the milestone was first of its kind and therefore was deserving of national attention.
Highlighting the contribution of corpers to national development, Ibrahim stated that corps members who are medical professionals recently conducted delivery for one of their colleagues during the ongoing industrial action of resident doctors, adding that they have continued to play critical roles in nation building.
In recent times, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has extended health insurance coverage to retirees of the Nigerian Police Force and the Department of State Services under the GIFSHIP initiative.
The ceremony attracted members of top management from both organisations.
