Less than 5% of medical centers have insurance for personnel

By: Modestus Anaesoronye

Despite that Professional Indemnity Insurance, a cover that protects personnel of medical centrers and hospitals against professional liability is compulspory in Nigeria, only less than 5 percent of the 3000 registered medical centers have this cover.

Professional Indemnity Insurance is a cover for medical personals against third-party liability like deaths, permanent disability or others resulting from error while discharging their duties.

Abdulrahman Sambo, acting executive secretary of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) who made the disclosure during a collaboration meeting with the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) said, there is no better time for this meeting than now.

Sambo therefore expressed the desires of the Scheme towards the successful collaboration with NAICOM for the enforcement of all aspects of the NHIS laws relating to insurance, pledging his support to the inception of a joint committee to facilitate the collaboration within the next two weeks in view of the urgency.

Leonard Akah, deputy director, Authorisation and Policy who represented the Commissioner for Insurance, Fola Daniel informed the meeting of the Commission’s efforts at ensuring compliance with the provision of the NHIS laws by healthcare providers as it affects the mandatory insurance cover for such medical providers registered with the NHIS.

He noted that the collaboration between the Agencies has become more imperative in view of the need to protect and provide succor to innocent victims from the errors and mistakes by medical personnel that may result in death, permanent disability, etc in the course of performing their duties. He highlighted the benefits of such insurance cover to not only the innocent third parties, but also to the healthcare provider.

Daniel thus urged the NHIS to collaborate with the Commission by ensuring that all medical centers registered under it comply with this aspect of the law relating to insurance. He opined that the NHIS could make it a precondition for the issuance of certificate of registration by the Scheme to medical centers.