Troubled National Health Insurance Scheme
In 1999, the then Nigerian government, under Decree 35, mooted the idea of a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), to replace the existing 'cash and carry' health-financing system which makes it compulsory for every health-seeking individual to pay money instantly before and after treatment in the hospitals and clinics across the country. Thereafter, the scheme existed, only in the imaginations of its progenitors. In June 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, did an official flag-off. Sadly till date, means of quality healthcare services is still far away from the reach of most Nigerians even as millions are not aware that a health social security systems exist; yet, many more suffer needless deaths. Joke Kujenya examines the relevance of the scheme since its 'celebrated' take-off.
Few people expected their lives to suddenly take a sad twist. Akinwunmi Olowu, 34, was definitely not one of such. He was a perfectly healthy young man through his teenage years. He had gone through the secondary and higher institutions with the usual hurdles of life to grapple with. He had also done the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme with fewer hassles. The young dude was about to settle down to begin to enjoy the life he had laboured well to build for himself when abruptly, just about Christmas of 2008, he took ill. In a quick response, his aged parents rushed him to the hospital and there the bombshell was dropped: ‘Your son is suffering from the End-Stage Renal Failure (ESRF).
Thereafter, a scan of his kidneys showed they had shrunk and were no longer doing the job they were supposed to do. He was then told that he had to go on dialysis immediately and would remain on it until he was able to raise the sum of N6million to obtain a kidney transplant. As the medication commenced at the Gbagada General Hospital, the dialysis, including other treatment, cost him and his aged parents about N80, 000.00 on a weekly basis. Soon after, they ran out of means and had to run to Nigerians for help through the assistance of the media.
Akinwunmi’s story was published with a plea that he needed N6million to embark on a life-saving mission to India for the transplant. Sadly, the young man waited in vain for the help that never came till he died in his mother’s arms on Friday, April 17, 2009.
Life, since Little Faith Sunday, 8 years of age, began dialysis was barely recognisable for her. Small in years as she was, she would place her hand under her chin and look, lost in thought.
When asked what she was thinking; she would shake her little head in despair and then sigh deeply, before she would whisper, nothing. Faith also suffered from kidney failure and needed to get her health back with just N2.5million. Prior to the publication of her appeal in one of the dailies to Nigerians for help, Faith was admitted at the Dialyzer Specialist Hospital, along Oshodi-Express Road, Lagos, where her young parents paid N25, 000 weekly for dialysis. Only one Nigerian heeded her plea with the sum of N10, 000 till Faith died, also in the arms of her young mother in the evening of Tuesday, April 7, 2009.
On the television, in the radio and newspapers, daily appeals for health support flood the airwaves. As the number of Nigerians suffering from one ailment or another grows by the day, many have begin to wonder how the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), a health social security project initiated by the Nigerian government is supposed to help an average citizens.
As such, many have strongly argued that, more urgent than before, the need for the three tiers of government to come to the aid of the generality of the citizens in providing the expected health support through the NHIS has become more apparent.
The complete piece is available at:
http://www.thenationonlineng.com/dynamicpage.asp?id=82844
1 comments:
NIGERIAN "RULERS" ARE WICKED, GREEDY AND SELFCENTERED,THEY ARE NOT LEADERS, AND THEY WILL NEVER GO FREE,BECAUSE THE CRY OF INNOCENT CHILDREN, YOUTHS WILL CONTINUE TO DESTROY THEM, THE COUNTRY IS FOR EVERY BODY NOT FOR SOME FEW FAMILIES.
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