Deconstructing NHIS under Professor Mohammed Sambo

BY TERSOO ADAGHER

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was established under Cap N42LFN, 2004, by the federal government of Nigeria to ensure that every Nigerian has access to good healthcare services. Families are to be protected from the financial hardship of huge medical bills as well as ensure a high standard of healthcare delivery in the country.

But unfortunately, over the years, the Scheme has been bedeviled with issues ranging from poor ICT infrastructure, inadequate financing resources, weak legal institutional and regulatory framework, poor engagement of key stakeholders and chiefly amongst the challenges was the leadership crisis that assailed the Scheme.

The organization had almost degenerated into a war zone, from which corporate institutions and implementing partners maintained a safe distance from the scheme’s activities and programmes.

However, in the midst of all the abnormalities that were threatening the corporate existence of NHIS and the fate of its enrollees, President  Muhammadu Buhari appointed a Healthcare Financing czar in the person of Professor Mohammed Nasir Sambo, who has a huge academic and operational interest in Health Care Financing, making him a perfect fit for his new role as the nation’s No. 1 Healthcare financing sheriff.

As an academic and a technocrat, Professor Sambo is well seasoned and a thoroughbred, hence the reason for the excitement in the industry at his arrival. He came on board at a time the agency needed the right leadership.

This first rank academic graduated with an MBBS from the University of Jos in 1993, capped it with the distinguished Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians in 2003, where he was the Best Candidate in the Final Fellowship examination.

In the academic wing of his illustrious public service career, Professor Sambo had eminently acquitted himself in the positions of Deputy Dean, Faculty of Medicine, and Head, Department of Community Medicine, both at the blue-chip Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.

Since his assumption of office a year ago, he has brought his wealth of experience to bear on the job.

Sambo’s leadership has been able to maintain and improve good relationships with stakeholders, stability and tranquility in the system especially amongst the staff of the Scheme as well as far-reaching transformational blueprints that are evidently witnessed at NHIS currently.

His rebranding agenda has placed the Scheme on a high pedestal with traffic of development partners, institutions seeking collaboration and offering support from different flanks.

Within this period of his stewardship, apart from ensuring that the entire value chain of operations at NHIS is automated, Sambo introduced the innovative conceptual framework of Health Insurance Under One Roof (HIUOR) as a tool to reduce the bottlenecks occasioned by fragmentation in the health insurance system in Nigeria. This laudable programme has its overall objective to ensure that health insurance operates under one system with proper coordination, regulation and unified data.

In line with the presidential mandate of the Health Next Level Agenda, the noble concept for deepening healthcare in Nigeria and putting an end to medical tourism, Professor Sambo has rigorously pursued this agenda with some key elements to this noble cause.

His leadership has commenced the evaluation of the provision of automating NHIS processes across board and the Novel Scheme; Group, Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme GIFSHIP.

While the NHIS under his leadership has continued to explore and establish programmes to support the Federal Government’s drive better health sector, it has been collaborating with other government agencies such as the National Information Technology Development (NITDA) for required technological standards and regulations, repackaging of NYSC healthcare purchase for corps members while serving their fatherland.

Other key achievements under his leadership are the continued mutual and beneficial industrial harmony with all Unions in the scheme and uninterrupted operations even with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tersoo Adagher works with the media and public relations division of the NHIS.