Dr Lawrence Obembe, the new President of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has reiterated the need for community health insurance to improve the nation’s health system.
Obembe said this at a news conference in Abuja, organised by NMA with the theme: “Road Map towards Universal Health Coverage”.
He called for the removal of all barriers to achieving community health insurance, saying that once that was done, universal health coverage and adequate access to quality health care services would be assured.
“Ninety-eight per cent of this coverage has actually come from federal civil servants.
“The states and local governments have not come on board and in some instances, even constitute impenetrable barriers towards reaching the communities.
“Artificial barriers and imaginary concepts are always devised to forestall necessary access to adequate health care at community level and so our health care indices remain dastardly macabre.
