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According to available information from the Directorate Headquarters in Abuja, the enrolment will be carried out through the Group Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme (GIFSHIP) and will cover corps members during their pre-orientation, orientation, primary assignment and terminal leave periods. The coverage however cannot be carried over by the corps members as its life cycle would terminate at the end of their service year. The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Major-General Shuaibu Ibrahim, while speaking at the official flag-off last Friday in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, said that following a transparent and competitive selection process, six Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) have been carefully selected to oversee the provision of the health insurance coverage for corps members in the country. He believes this will ensure the effective implementation of the scheme and that the six HMOs were selected to cover each of the six geo-political zones in the country. According to the DG, corps members shall all be expected to register in their respective locations with existing Health Care Providers. This he believes will “ensure a seamless arrangement devoid of encumbrances” even as he expects that the HMOs and the various Health Care Providers that will be executing the coverage will approach it with utmost integrity and responsibility.
“On our part, Management of the NYSC will leave no stone unturned in order to ensure that all, who have roles to play in this initiative, carry them out with patriotic zeal so as to meet the expectations of the Government. In a bid to further achieve this, I have directed the Corps Welfare and Health Services Department of the Scheme to ensure strict monitoring of the HMOs in concert with the NHIS Office to guard against service failure,”Major-General Shuaibu Ibrahim said.
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Also speaking at the official flag-off of this scheme in Abuja, the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, stated that the enrolment is simply a demonstration of the government’s commitment to the health care needs of Nigerians, especially the young people who he believes are the future leaders of Nigeria and the hope of a prosperous and united country. In November 2020, the Director-General of NYSC had announced in a press briefing that the NYSC had been directed by the Federal Government to begin the compulsory enrolment of Corps members into the National Health Insurance Scheme. The National Health Insurance Scheme is set up to provide Nigerians with easy and affordable access to healthcare. It was originally established under a military Decree No. 35 of 1999, now an Act of the National Assembly contained in Cap N42 LFN, 2004. The scheme however only became functional in 2005 following a presidential directive to that effect as part of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s drive to ensure Nigeria meets the Millennium Development Goals’ Universal Health Coverage agenda. Featured Image Source: Tribune Nation
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