Health Financing: WHO Gives Garki Hospital Pass Mark
THE World Health Organisation, WHO, has commended the health financing approach that is in place at the Garki Hospital, Abuja.
A fact-finding team that visited the health institution to evaluate the success story of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Nigeria expressed satisfaction with the quality of its services, and gave a pass mark to the first public hospital established in the Federal Capital Territory in 1986.
The evaluators included Head of Health Financing, WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr. Juliet Nabyonga and three technical officers namely, Fahdi Dkhimi, Kingsley Addai and Dr. Francis Ukwuije.
“Two-third of the patients that use this hospital are on health insurance, so out of pocket patients are actually a minority and the NHIS acknowledges us as a model hospital in the whole of country. We have become so efficient that an NHIS or health insurance patient can see three specialists in one day. Here you can see the cardiologist, the neurologist and endocrinologist all in one day,” Onu disclosed.
He also expressed satisfaction with the feat attained by Garki Hospital and asked questions on data management to improve services and turn-around periods.
The Director General, NHIA, Prof. Mohammed Sambo praised the PPP model which he said has manifested in efficient management of human and material resources. He promised to partner with the hospital on its cost-effective method for delivering healthcare services.
Indeed, Dr. Onu used that opportunity to identify areas of improvement for Nigeria’s health insurance scheme as proper documentation of beneficiaries and their records as well as standardization to streamline areas of insurance coverage.
The hospital was accredited by the NHIS in 2008. It currently has one of the largest number of NHIS enrollees in the FCT and the only PPP that accepts secondary referrals from other facilities. The hospital is also the only facility that carries out specialized surgery under the NHIS scheme.
Onu said the scheme is working smoothly because the hospital ensures open and transparent billing system and ensures that no patient waits for more than 30 minutes before seeing a doctor, thanks to its electronic medical record application on all facets of healthcare.
The Federal Government recently announced its expansion of the health insurance system with the launch of a new health insurance package, Group Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme, GIFSHIP.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said the new insurance product is the outcome of wide-ranging and far-reaching reforms within NHIS to significantly increase the fiscal space for healthcare services.
He explained that the new product, expectedly, will address the challenges and barriers encountered during implementation of other insurance packages both by the beneficiaries and operators.
“It will also eliminate known difficulties, as it creates additional value by expanding and upgrading other insurance packages for better reach, service quality and user experience,” the Minister promised.
