An occupational health physician, Dr. Daniel Onyetulem, has blamed low awareness and out-of-pocket payment culture for the poor uptake of health insurance in Nigeria, despite the availability of low-cost plans.
Onyetulem, who works with Stevenson Holistic Care Foundation, disclosed this in an interview on the sidelines of a global conference.
Onyetulem said the Foundation, which is in consultative status with the United Nations ECOSOC, United Nations Environment Programme and the United Nations Framework on Climate Action, as well as IPBES, works in five thematic areas: healthcare, gender, climate, renewable energy and agriculture.
He said the organization recently ventured into agriculture in partnership with an organisation in Ireland to provide digital solutions for cattle rustling and grazing. The solution, he explained, helps to track cattle location, monitor grazing patterns, detect when they are ready for mating and monitor their health status.
On health, Onyetulem said the major objective aligns with Universal Health Coverage – making quality and affordable healthcare accessible to all.
To achieve that, he founded Synergy WellCare Medicaid Limited, a Health Maintenance Organization accredited by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), which provides prepaid health plans in Nigeria.
According to him, the biggest challenges to health insurance enrollment in Nigeria are lack of awareness and affordability.
He cited a project funded by USAID two years ago in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT.
“USAID had invested so much in infrastructure, capacity building and hospital equipment in Nigeria, but realised people were still not going to the hospital. The question was why? They realised it was because of out-of-pocket payment,” he said.
He said USAID consequently gave a grant to his NGO to create awareness and drive enrolment into the FCT Health Insurance Scheme, focusing on the informal sector, which was used as a case study.
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“Awareness is one of the major problems and then affordability is the next one,” he said.
Onyetulem said part of his reason for attending the conference, which will move to Turkey ahead of COP, is to seek partnerships to key into the global target of reaching 150 million people worldwide with affordable and quality healthcare, with a focus on extending benefits to Africa and Nigeria.
He called on the Federal Government to strengthen health policymaking, enforce informal sector enrolment, and subsidize premiums for citizens.
He referenced the Thailand model where every child born is automatically entitled to free health insurance, while others can enroll by paying the equivalent of 20 Baht.
“We need something like that in our country,” he said.
He urged Nigerians to take advantage of existing schemes, noting that many do not know that with less than N50,000, they can purchase a health insurance plan that covers basic healthcare needs for one year.
He added that the government already provides free healthcare for vulnerable groups, including pregnant women, children under five, the elderly and persons with disabilities.
On lessons from the conference, he said the exchange of ideas in a multilateral setting was valuable and would be stepped down in Nigeria to improve existing systems.
“I would love to be remembered for the lives I have touched and for bringing hope to the hopeless,” he added.
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