By Abbas Aminu Bamalli
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, has said that Nigerians need to have access to medical infrastructures and services to tackle their health challenges.
Chukwu, who stated this yesterday in Abuja, while briefing the press on the Presidential Summit on Universal Health Coverage (UHC), coming up 10th of March 2014, further said the UHC is imperative for the achievement of the national vision 20:2020.
He said, in order to achieve the President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda, and become one of the largest 20 economies by the year 20:2020, a health population is required to provide the necessary human capital to spur the needed macro-economic development.
He said, “The World Health Organisation (WHO) devoted its 2010 WHR to financing options for UHC. The United Nations General Assembly in December 2012 urged member states to urgently and significantly scale-up efforts to accelerate the transition towards universal access to affordable and quality healthcare services”.
Responding to a question, the Executive Secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Dr. Femi Thomas said, workers are expected to contribute at least 1.75 percent of their salary as the health insurance, calling on them not to hesitate to pay as it will benefit them even after retirement.
