Dr Ibrahim Oloriegbe, the chairman of the senate committee on health says the senate has passed a bill that will make health insurance mandatory for all Nigerians. He disclosed this in the inauguration of Group Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme (GIFSHIP) in Abuja.
Oloriegbe also said the e-NHIS framework had been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and would soon be executed.
“We have passed it in the Senate. Two Committees on health from Senate and the House of Representatives worked on the bill, so the bill is before the House of Representatives just for concurrence.”
He further explained that the National Assembly had been supporting NHIS by appropriating the needed funds for its implementation.Â
“Without funds for it, it cannot work, when we considered the NHIS 2020 budget, we fully made provision for achievement of the e-NHIS; N1.5 billion was provided for that.’’
He said the senate had been working with the Federal Ministry of Health to improve health coverage by giving the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) effective administration.
“We have reviewed the manual for BHCPF in collaboration with stakeholders to make the fund more beneficial to Nigerians.”
Dr Niyi Oginni, the Chairman, Forum of CEOs, State Health Insurance Agencies in Nigeria, added that the states had been restructured to achieve the Universal Health Coverage (UHC).