Mass enrolment in health insurance would boost the sector, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ultimate Health, Lekan Ewenla, has said.
     
He added that the move would transform facilities in Nigerian hospitals and change the country’s poor health indices.
 
Ewenla, in a statement yesterday, commended President Bola Tinubu’s administration for the steps it had taken to widen health insurance in the country.
   
Explaining the need for mass enrolment in health insurance, he said it would lead to better funding of the health sector and change the poor health indices of the country. 
   
He stated: “It will lead to accelerated transformation of our healthcare infrastructure as premium payment across millions of Nigerians will translate to availability of multi-trillion Naira in the healthcare industry, which will automatically translate to huge investment in the sector. Why Nigerian doctors and nurses are leaving the country for other nations is not because of anything apart from the fact that those countries they are going to have introduced mandatory health insurance a long time ago, and it is working. 

It has equally enhanced the take-home pay of every worker in that sector.”
   
According to him, out-of-pocket payment for health care has become old-fashioned globally, adding that health insurance will make health care accessible to Nigerians.

Calling for a code of conduct for health management organisations (HMOs), Ewenla said it would enhance health insurance in the country.
   
He advised stakeholders, including the NHIA (National Health Insurance Authority), to go back to the drawing board and look at the definition of responsibilities of the HMOs.