Dr. Chitalu Chilufya says there's need for those charged with responsibility to govern the nation to respectfully engage with the Church leadership.
Says the decision is a correct and highly progressive move; critically vital as an initial step to realign NHIMA to its original design and purpose as an innovative health care financing strategy to propel the country’s UHC!
Lusaka, April 3 – Former Health Minister, Hon. Dr. Chitalu Chilufya, has commended the government’s decision to move the National Health Insurance Management Authority (NHIMA) to the Ministry of Health.
“It’s a correct and highly progressive move, critically vital as an initial step to realign NHIMA to its original design and initial purpose as an innovative health care financing strategy to propel the country’s aspiration for Universal Health Coverage (UHC)!” Dr. Chitalu Chilufya recently stated in a telephone interview with the national broadcaster, ZNBC.
Dr. Chilufya’s counsel is premised on a policy formulation dimension that places Zambians at the nub of its economic development goals. He said NHIMA is a robust, resilient and sustainable tool to finance health services for all, leaving no one behind. It’s a vital pillar in any functional and well structured national Health System that targets UHC.
“It was structured to forge important synergies with ZAMMSA, for supply chain purposes in the drug fund, and other departments and directorates with capacity to audit and ensure quality public health and clinical care for citizens. Hence its domicile under the Ministry of Health supported by health facing legislation; the NHIS Act,” the Mansa Central Member of Parliament explained.
Also Read: Hichilema must be commended for heeding Dr. Chilufya’s counsel in the health sector!
He further stated that the urgent imperative of the moment now is to improve service delivery in all public health institutions, to assure efficient high quality health care services for all subscribers, as close as possible to where they are.
“All medicines must be available in public health pharmacies and dispensaries, so that citizens are not referred out with prescriptions; laboratory and diagnostic services need urgent attention; we must restock our facilities with laboratory reagents, and maintain our diagnostic equipment in a functional state to do a comprehensive scope of investigations in line with the level of accreditation of the various facilities!” he advised.
“Additionally, there is need to strengthen leadership and governance for Universal Health Care at NHIMA. We must continuously review the benefit package to align with our epidemiological profile, primary health care priorities and a deliberate bias towards public facilities,” he further recommended.
The former Health Minister further spoke of the need to relaunch the registration drive using community structures under the Ministry of Health and its partner Ministries.
“Having done that, we then need to ensure solvency of the fund by reviewing contributory rates and the claims being paid by NHIMA. This way, NHIMA will adequately supplement finance of public health institutions through claims while private facilities will complement access to health services. NHIMA must ease public health care financing to ensure health services reach the young, the old, non employed, the employed, the retired and the old and vulnerable people. Any thing deviant runs counter to the intention NHIMA was promulgated and flies in the face of the National Health Insurance Act No 2 of 2018!” the health guru recommended.
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