By Adesina Wahab

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ultimate Health, Health Management Organisation, Otunba Lekan Ewenla, has said mass enrollment in health insurance will transform facilities in Nigerian hospitals and change the country’s poor health indices.

Ewenla, who stated this in a statement yesterday commended President Bola Tinubu’s administration over steps it had taken to widen health insurance in the country.

Explaining the need for mass enrollment in health insurance, he said it would lead to better funding of the health sector and change the poor health indices of the country.

He further stated, “It will lead to accelerated transformation of our healthcare infrastructure as premium payment by millions of Nigerians will translate to availability of multi-trillion naira in the healthcare industry, which will automatically translate to huge investment in the sector. Why Nigerian doctors and nurses are leaving the country for other nations is not because of anything apart from the fact that those countries they are going have introduced mandatory health insurance long time ago and it is working. It has equally enhanced the take-home pay of every worker in that sector.”

According to him, out-of-pocket payment for health care has become old-fashioned globally, adding that health insurance would make health accessible to Nigerians

Ewenla stated, “ The idea of introducing health insurance in Nigeria was to make health care affordable, accessible, and equitable. Globally, people cannot afford to pay out of pocket. Health care is not cheap. It is quite expensive. That is why the health insurance concept is designed to cross-subsidise the medical needs of the poor and the sick, with those of the rich and the healthy. The idea behind the introduction of health insurance in Nigeria is to change the narration of our poor health indices by ensuring that people have unhindered access to quality care.”

Ewenla disclosed that Ultimate Health Services understood the health insurance business from the global perspective.

He stated, “It is a blend of global concept with local content and that has helped us a great deal in running a health insurance programme that is very outstanding.

“We choose our team focusing on their personality and ability to be teachable and commitment to doing things well. We see our staff as our ambassadors so we treat them as queens and kings because it is when we treat our staff well that they can represent us well out there.”

“We do capacity-building for the staff and the enrollees. I also want to share with us apart from interfacing and enhancing the knowledge of enrollees, we also train doctors in these companies.”

Calling for a code of conduct for health management organizations, he said this would enhance health insurance in the country.

He advised stakeholders including the NHIA (National Health Insurance Authority) to go back to the drawing board and look at the definition of responsibilities of the HMOs.