The Federal Government has been urged by the National Health Health Authority (NHIA) to use the contentious one kobo per second call fee to pay for insurance coverage for disadvantaged Nigerians.
The Authority recommended the administration to include the fee to the Finance Act.
It also argued that NHIA should get the N10 per litre sugar tax in order to provide health insurance for the underprivileged.
At a one-day workshop on the NHIA Act, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, the director general of the NHIA, revealed this.
He said: “NHIA is saying, for every call you make, we can take one kobo and keep it so that we can aggregate the monies to offer health insurance for the needy. People have spent all their money in GSM and they cannot afford healthcare.”
He clarified that the NHIA Act specifies financing sources and allows for the creation of the Vulnerable Group Fund.
He pointed out that the Finance Act did not include the one kobo per second call levy, which led to its rejection by the parliament. He said that the administration could devise a way to incorporate it.
The head of NHIA said the organization launched the NHIA Medicine Supply Initiative to guarantee medicine availability, ensure that all medications entering the health insurance ecosystem are of high quality, and reduce drug costs.
