A delegation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Mission for Health Financing to Nigeria says the organisation is committed to supporting the implementation of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act.

The technical officer of the mission, Fahdi Dkhimi, said this when he led a WHO team and officials of NHIA to pay a courtesy call on the Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the spokesperson for the health ministry, Ahmadu Chindaya, on Wednesday in Abuja.

According to Mr Chindaya, the visiting team also discussed possible ways to operationalise the act for the benefit of Nigerians.

Mr Ehanire was quoted as welcoming the gesture from WHO, adding that the operationalisation of the act faced some challenges such as infrastructural, human resource and investment patterns.

“Most of the investments have gone to the very large visible hospitals which are not much utilised at the expense of small primary healthcare centres in the rural areas,” he said.

Mr Ehanire, however, solicited investment and a higher level of care at the sub-urban level to achieve universal health coverage.

The act was recently signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.

It aims at empowering the NHIA to provide health insurance for all Nigerians through a mandatory mechanism.

It also sets to establish a Vulnerable Group Fund (VGF), indicating the various sources from which funding would be drawn. 

(NAN)