Adedokun Waliyu 
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 team, led by Dr. Joseph Kutzin, Head of Health Financing and Governance from Geneva, came with officials of the National Health Insurance Authority led by its Director General, Dr. Mohammed Sambo, to evaluate the success story of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Nigeria.
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.
Receiving the team, the Medical Director of Garki Hospital, Dr Adamu Onu who spoke extensively on the progress of the hospital since it was taken over by Nisa Premier Hospital on a Public-Private-Partnership agreement in 2007, said owing to the reforms carried out since 2016, the hospital presently has 35,555 NHIS clients and 8,118 enrollees on the FCT health insurance register.
Onu who bemoaned the fact that many Nigerians still find it hard to access quality health care, called for improved documentation of beneficiaries and their records as well as standardisation to streamline areas of insurance coverage. Onu said Garki Hospital has been able to cover the gap between quality health care and the people because of the success of the PPP arrangement which enables the hospital to offer premium health services at affordable cost.
“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.
The team came to Nigeria to explore ways of assisting in health financing with a view to promoting universal health care so that the poor and indigent can get equal access.
He also expressed satisfaction with the feat attained by Garki Hospital and asked questions on data management to improve services and turn-around periods.
“Garki Hospital has grown to be a hospital of choice in the FCT and beyond since it embraced the PPP model. It is amulti-specialty hospital, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities backed by a wide range of expertise and skilled personnel providing specialized and general care, in-patient and out-patient services. It has been a shining example of successful public-private partnership in health.
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.
