DODOMA: THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Investment (PIC) has called for urgent measures to rescue the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) so that it can continue to operate efficiently.
Speaking in Dodoma on Thursday, Committee Chairperson Jerry Silaa said that the Committee had met with the management of the fund to discuss various issues and learnt that the issue of rescuing the social health insurance institution needs to be presented to the Speaker’s Office to see the best way to advise the government to ensure productive performance.
He said that urgent actions must be taken to stabilise the fund so that it can manage well the anticipated Universal Health Insurance (UHI) when the bill to establish the fund is passed by Parliament.
“We all know that the sixth phase government is in the process of establishing a Universal Health Insurance, we expect NHIF to be the custodian of this fund when the bill is passed. The government should find the best way to strengthen NHIF so that it can serve well the public,” he said.
He noted that one of the biggest problems facing NHIF is the lack of proper financial management and the systems used in managing the resource.
“If we look at the Controller and Auditor General (CAG)’s latest report we can see that there are men who have been provided with maternal health services while others fail to access health services through insurance unless they suffer from serious diseases and several other errors. This shows that there are problems related with financial management and its systems. This is why the efficiency of the Fund is dwindling,” he said.
He said that the fund’s growth rate is not promising at all, casting doubt on its survival because its assets’ value has been falling from 1.2tri/- in 2020/2021 to 1.1tri/- in 2021/2022 before again falling further to 1.09tri/- in 2022/2023.
“The fund’s expenditure has exceeded its income, which is the reason why their capital has also decreased from 1tri/- to 700 bn/- in the past three years. Urgent measures must be taken to help the fund improve in the coming financial years,” he said.
In September last year, the Minister for Health Ummy Mwalimu outlined measures that will help rescue the NHIF, including finalisation of establishment of the Universal Health Insurance (UHI).
When opening a five-day regional cholera readiness capacity-building seminar here in Dodoma last year the Minister for Health said that NHIF is overwhelmed by a sharp rise in claims related to bills on non-communicable diseases, thus calling for immediate actions to rescue it.
The UHI bill was tabled twice in the last Parliament but it was withdrawn for further improvements.
