Over 30,000 Customs personnel around the country are being denied access to medical care, following the failure of their employers, the Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) to remit over N1.6 billion deducted from their salaries in respect of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

In the past one month, BusinessDay has received several representations from disaffected customs officers from across the country, accusing their employers of callousness and abandonment.

Many of the workers told BusinessDay they continue to face severe difficulties meeting the health care needs of their families since being denied access to medical care by service providers.

Wale Adeniyi, Customs’ spokesperson, confirmed that the Service has been having hiccups with its health insurance scheme for sometime but claimed that as a result, deductions are not being made from the wages of serving customs officers.

Adeniyi said, “we are temporarily out of the health insurance scheme and we are aware that officers have been dissatisfied with the current situation but we have advised them to make use of Customs medical facilities all over country or seek alternative means of providing healthcare services for themselves and their families, pending when the issues are sorted out.”

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was establishedunder Act 35 of 1999 to provide easy access and it promises universal health coverage and access to adequate and affordable healthcare for those participating.

BusinessDay was told at the NHIS that Premium Health, a Lagos health management organisation with head quarters in Lagos had successfully managed the health insurance policy for NCS for years until the current crisis and it has since removed the Customs workers from the scheme after several efforts to get the service to pay up failed.

Ayo Osinlu, spokesperson for NHIS observed that the regulator made concerted efforts to get the Customs to remit the deducted premium but it is yet to succeed. He however declined to comment further because of the technicalities involved.

“I would have commented on the issue if it were about the operations of the scheme but the issue of non-remittance involves some technicalities.

“On this particular issue, it is only the executive secretary and the GM, Contributions that can speak. I knew NHIS was involved in several meetings on the issue and several correspondences were exchanged with the Customs, NHIS and the HMO. But as I speak, we haven’t concluded”.

This crisis has brought to the fore, deficiencies in the scheme that prevented HMOs from taking legal actions to ensure remittance. The NCS, it was learnt was not the first to default on remittance of health insurance premium.

The amount owed covers deductions from the personnel’s salaries over a period of 72 months. The management deducts N750 every month from the salaries of each worker but has failed to remit the deductions over a period of six years.

Badejo Ademuyiwa & Amaka Anagor

http://businessdayonline.com/2014/12/n2bn-nhis-money-trapped-in-customs/#.VIGgXTHF-xU

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