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Health insurance underway for Nigerian senior citizens, retirees –NSCC DG

A Cross-Section of Nigerian Senior Citizens and Retirees at a Forum

*The National Senior Citizens Centre has said it is currently packaging a health insurance scheme aimed at catering for the health needs of senior citizens, urging Nigerians to change their perception about older persons, as ‘they are assets’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Currently working to enlist other stakeholders on the scheme for the benefit of the senior folks, the National Senior Citizens Centre (NSCC) has said that it is packaging a health insurance scheme aimed at catering for the health needs of senior citizens in the Nigeria.

Dr. Emem Omokaro, Director-General of NSCC, disclosed this development Sunday, December 19, 2021, in Abuja, FCT, at an interview session of the News Agency of Nigeria.

Dr. Emem Omokaro, Director-General of NSCC

The agency stated that the effort is part of the revised National Social Protection Policy to take special care of senior citizens in the country.

The NSCC Director-General stated that the Management of the centre is working currently to seek the support of other stakeholders, who would sponsor the scheme for the benefit of the senior citizens in the country.

Omokaro said: “Access to a health care is free in some developed countries because someone has paid for it.

“The challenge in Nigeria is not to say that this is free. It is who is paying for the service and how sustainable can the payment be?”

She further noted that the Federal Government set up a committee to revise the National Social Protection Policy to take special care of senior citizens.

The Director-General said: “The 2017 National Social Protection Policy has been undergoing revision for nearly a year.

“We have identified all categories of older persons and we have noticed that the policy did not have an implementation working document and there was no cost attached to it.”

Omokaro also said: “It was just a guiding document that the present administration picked and then identified some pillar programmes and embarked on.

“Right now as I speak, the final draft of the policy has been brought to an inter-ministerial committee for review.’’

In some societies, senior citizens are given near free medical care, and whatever is given free to the senior folks must have been paid for by some sponsors, she noted.

Omokaro, however, advised that while doing a comparison of countries, one should try to determine if the care provided was by legislation or via a trust fund.

She added: “What is the basic health package? Have they paid for you when you can approach the hospital and ask: can I have surgery, can I check my heart and do full body-check?

“What is the content of the healthcare that is free? So we thank this administration for now embarking on revising the policy.’’

The NSCC Director-General assured that health insurance, which Nigerian senior citizens and retirees hitherto were not enjoying would soon become a thing of the past.

“After you have retired now, you will realise how much you have over-worked your body, and how your body will start demanding something from you. That is when you need your health.

“I know that with the political commitment of this administration, older persons and anybody who retires will soon get the service,’’ Omokaro said.

She, therefore, described older citizens as a diverse segment of the population, who should deserve health benefits as their dividend for being citizens of the country, report added.

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