NHIS: SERVICOM cautions hospitals against discrimination

Mrs Nnenna Akajemeli, National Coordinator Service Compact (SERVICOM) on Wednesday in Abuja warned federal hospitals to stop discriminating against patients on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

Akajemeli gave the warning while presenting the Post SERVICOM Compliance Evaluation report of evaluated hospitals to the Minister of State for Health Dr Osagie Ehanire.

She said that the evaluation was conducted on the four hospitals namely the National Hospital, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Federal Medical Centre, Jabi and Federal Medical Centre, Keffi.

According to her, best practice requires equal treatment for all patients.

“The hospitals should clearly outline the quality of service NHIS patients are meant to receive so that they are not looked down on.

“Discrimination against NHIS patients was observed in the course of our evaluation, many patients complained bitterly about the service they get because they are on the scheme, this should be discouraged.

“I want to advocate for strong partnership between NHIS and the Hospitals to see how best they can serve the patients,’’ Akajemeli said.

The SERVICOM boss commended the national hospital for their cleanliness, text message reminders to patients on their appointment dates and for setting up a trust fund for indigent patients.

She, however, urged the management of national hospital to enhance their record keeping method to reduce delay in seeing a doctor, train their nurses and front desk officers to be polite.

She added that adequate toilet facilities and cleaners should be provided to cater for the needs of the patients.

Also commenting on the Jabi, Keffi and Gwagwalada hospitals, she thanked them for implementing some of the SERVICOM recommendations made in earlier evaluation such as directional signs, wearing of name tags and information provisions.

She pledged continuous support for the ministry of health and hospitals through the SERVICOM institute for improvement in service delivery.

In his response, the Minister of State for Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire commended SERVICOM for their detailed evaluation, describing their efforts as a wonderful job, saying the findings were adequate.

He noted that the ministry always advocated for citizen-focused service delivery, urging the national hospital to be on top of their jobs.

He also charged Chief Medical Directors of hospitals to be careful while selecting their staff, stating that no matter their qualifications a staff with good attitude was paramount.

He further called for attitudinal change on the part of hospital personnel.

Also, the Chief Medical Director, National Hospital, Dr Jaf Momoh said that he was encouraged by the SERVOICOM report, promising to improve in the areas of their weaknesses.

“I am encouraged by the report and we will do much better, we will henceforth thoroughly check the backgrounds of our staff before recruiting.

“Computerisation of our record keeping is ongoing and the NHIS is overcrowded due to too many referrals by the private hospitals, who refuse to handle some cases due to the cost of the service required.

“For example cesarean section, which national hospital does for 55,000, while other hospitals do it above 100,000.’’

He explained that the hospital was currently working with the NHIS to review tariffs and address the issue of delayed payments by the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs)