‘Leave Any Health Facility Providing Bad Services’ – NASHIA
The Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA) has asked beneficiaries of the scheme to leave any health facility providing bad services to them as there are other options.
Speaking during a one-day engagement with media practitioners which held on Friday (September 9, 2023) at Mosmera Guest Inn in Lafia, Acting Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr. Simon Istifanus said any health facility that has the habit of providing shabby services for the insured patients, will be forced to sit up when a good number of their patients choose to go elsewhere to get treatment.
He said by the time the health facilities begin to see a significant decrease in their capitation because a lot of their clients have left, they will be investigate the cause and correct it.
Dr. Simon Istifanus who was responding to concerns raised by journalists about poor services from health facilities, urged patients to always escalate their complaints through the right channels so that the agency can take the right steps towards correcting the situation.
He also disclosed that NASHIA has provided phone numbers so that persons can call and make their complaints or observations directly to the agency even as they are working to provide toll-free numbers.
Speaking on the role of the media in the success of the agency, the acting NASHIA boss appealed to the journalists to inform the masses about the services of the agency even as they work towards achieving universal health coverage.
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman of the Nasarawa State Council of the Nigeria Union of Jounalists (NUJ), Comrade Salihu Mohammed Alkali appreciated NASHIA for the initiative as it showed they recognized the vital role the media can play in selling the activities of the agency to citizens of Nasarawa State.
He then called on the journalists to justify the confidence reposed in them by NASHIA by giving the most professional and ethical reportage especially as it concerns health insurance in Nasarawa State.
In his presentation at the event, Pharm. Kaki Maikudi of the Department of Health Services and Quality Control of NASHIA gave an overview of the activities of NASHIA since its inception, stating the categories of persons that can be enrolled on the scheme and the enrolment procedures.
He said so far, the agency has been able to enroll just about 188,213 persons which is about 6.3 percent of the estimated population of Nasarawa State. He therefore called for collaboration from the media so that the agency can achieve its target of getting to 20 percent by 2027.
