Matthew Otoijagha
The newly appointed Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Prof. Mohammed Sambo, says he has adopted a three-point aggressive and purposeful strategy to rebrand the scheme.
Sambo disclosed this at a two-day retreat for the top management committee of NHIS in Kaduna on Tuesday. He said the scheme has a presidential mandate to achieve Universal Health Coverage through the three-point agenda towards the realization of its core mandate.
“Am a public health physician and I work with evidence. I am trying to take a comprehensive stock of what has been happening in NHIS. “The first step in our rebranding agenda is that we will embark on an aggressive and purposeful strategy that will re-orientate the organization.
“This will, however, develop into a very good value system which will bring stability in the health insurance system. I am going to be systematic and purposeful, and the way to do it is to generate and gather evidence, by taking stock of all stakeholders,’’ he said.
Sambo said the management would be embarking on a purposeful stakeholder’s engagement with the Health Management Organizations (HMOs) and Health Care Providers to have a very transparent discussion in line with the accountability agenda of the current administration. He added that problems would be collectively identified and solutions proffered by all stakeholders.
Sambo said that part of the reform agenda is also to catalogue how many Ministries, Departments and Agencies are under the Federal Government. He added that the exercise would determine the total number of federal government employees who have subscribed to the scheme and those yet to be enrolled. He noted that the scheme was meant to be compulsory for all federal government employees, assuring that the scheme will design a strategy to ensure all the workers enroll in line with the presidential mandate.
According to Sambo, the three-point agenda include “firstly, restoring value system that would transform NHIS into a credible and result-driven organization. “Secondly, the agenda will engender transparency and accountability in the entire operation of the scheme, and “Thirdly, accelerating the drive of the scheme towards achieving a universal access to quality healthcare for all Nigerians’’.
Prof. Gbenga Sunmola with the University of Ibadan, the Facilitator of the retreat, said it was very timely, important and significant. Sunmola said without health there cannot be a good quality of life, and without health, there cannot be peace and security in the country.
He said it was important to reposition relevant organizations that are responsible for bringing good health to the nation, by restructuring their thinking and behavior for the benefit of the masses. “We want to strengthen NHIS to better position itself for universal coverage because there are many demands from the government, enrollees and the public.
“It needs to strengthen its internal mechanism and respond appropriately with a new value orientation that would accelerate work practices in a way that is compatible with efficient service delivery,” said the don.
Prof. Abdullahi Musa with the Kaduna State University, another facilitator, said the objective of the retreat was to rebrand public organizations. He explained that rebranding was a means of developing strategies to do something differently.
“One effective strategy that is being adopted globally to ensure organizations achieve efficiency and effectiveness in their work practices is to ensure that they have a balance value system in an organization. Once there is balance it will drive behavior for efficiency that will lead to excellence, improvement in productivity and the core mandate of the organization will be achieved,” Musa said.