NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME- THE YET TO BE UNRAVELLED STORY- By Sanni Inuwa Baba
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is implementing the Constitutional Obligation under Directive Principles of state policy in chapter 2 of the constitution. This Directive Principle of the state policy mandate is to the effect that all Nigerians are entitled to quality health care services delivery. In order to implement this constitutional policy, the NHIS was established in 2005. One of the best concepts meant to directly make an impact on most or all of its citizens was the establishment of the NHIS. What makes this a unique strategy is that each Nigerian, no matter his/her age and status in the country would be a direct beneficiary. After 13 years of its implementation, unfortunately only 3 million Nigerians are enrolled under the scheme. The NHIS was for many reasons seen by concerned Nigerians as another avenue for some people to enrich themselves rather than a scheme to ensure delivery of affordable health care services to ordinary Nigerians. In recent time