Some key leaders in the health sector have called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the renewed crisis rocking the National Health Insurance Scheme by looking into the allegations of misconduct and fraud leveled against the leadership of the scheme and ensure that the purpose of establishing it is not defeated by corruption.
NHIS was recently thrown into a fresh crisis when its Executive Secretary, Prof. Usman Yusuf, ignored his indefinite suspension by the Governing Council of the scheme, over alleged corruption charges.
Yusuf was suspended indefinitely penultimate Thursday by the Governing Council, making it the second time he was suspended in two years over fraud allegations and misconduct.
The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria , Health and Managed Care Association of Nigeria –the umbrella body of accredited Health Maintenance Organisations , among others, had petitioned the council over issue of financial recklessness and corruption, nepotism, maladministration and other administrative infractions by the executive secretary.
Reacting to the crisis in an interview with The Point, immediate past President of the Nigerian Medical Association , Prof. Mike Ogrima, said the facts are there for the President to take a decision, urging politicians to stop playing politics with the lives of Nigerians.
Ogrima said: “The politicians know what they are doing. The facts are there. The documents are there for the President to take a decision and do the needful.”
For the former NMA boss, who is the Chief Consultant Orthopedic and Trauma Surgeon at the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria, ” Whoever that is corrupt should be dealt with accordingly. Anybody found embezzling people’s fund must be dealt with.”
He reiterated: ” We have all the laws. The President should implement them.”
Before the latest crisis, the NHIS boss was previously suspended by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, in July 2017 over alleged gross misconduct and fraud. The Minister , thereafter, set up a panel to investigate the allegations. Findings by The Point revealed that the panel indicted the Executive Secretary and recommended sanctions.
President Buhari, however, ignored the recommendations of the probe panel and reinstated Yusuf in February, a situation health experts described as an unfortunate development for the health sector.
Also reacting to the development, Vice President of the Commonwealth Medical Association, Dr Osahon Enabulele, appealed to President Buhari to declare a state of emergency in the operations and management of the NHIS, in addition to an urgent public inquiry into the
crisis.
Enabulele, a past president of NMA, also called for an
urgent governance reforms of the scheme in order to rid it of all forms of corruption, vices and infractions.
He further enjoined the Federal Government to create an enabling environment for effective supervision and management of the scheme, devoid of undue political
interference.
His words, ‘’If Nigeria is to improve on her current poor Universal Health Coverage levels, a holistic and comprehensive overhaul of the NHIS will have to be urgently conducted, with institution of urgent progressive reforms in the governance and management of the scheme as well as in the mode of appointment of the Executive Secretary and Managers of the Scheme.’’
Beside members of NMA, other health workers are also calling on President Buhari to do the needful in the interest of patients.
The chairperson, Governing Council of the NHIS, Enyantu Ifenne, however, said the reason for the suspension is to allow the panel an ‘unfettered’ space to do a thorough investigation.
But Yusuf had maintained innocence and also kicked against his suspension, insisting the board lacked powers to do so.
However, there are some Nigerians calling for further investigation into the matter, saying the executive secretary might have been illegally suspended.
While others argue that since the law provides that the President shall appoint the executive secretary on the advice of the minister of health, it is still the person who appoints that can also suspend.
Meanwhile, the House of Representatives has set up a panel to probe the ongoing crisis.
