The National Health Insurance Scheme and Nigerian Bar Association has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enroll lawyers in the country under the Group, Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Policy.

GIFSHIP is a health insurance that is taken up and paid for by groups, individuals and families not covered by other NHIS coverage platforms.

During the signing of the initial MoU engagement in Abuja on Thursday evening with NHIS, the NBA presented a cheque of N15 million to the Executive Secretary of the NHIS, Prof. Mohammed Sambo, to formally register 1000 members on the health insurance scheme.

The President of NBA, Olumide Akpata, said that the organisation was expecting to access quality health for lawyers through the NHIS GIFSHIP platform.

Akpata said, “This is very important for us at the NBA to be able to access quality healthcare and we see the NHIS as one channel to achieve this. So we have started with 1000 of our members. It is just the beginning, we have over 100,000 members across the country.”

According to him, the NBA was delighted with the partnership arrangement with the NHIS, adding that the MoU would ensure that the programme remained sustainable.

Sambo described the MoU with the NBA as a landmark achievement for the NHIS which has been campaigning for more Nigerians to register under the health scheme.

“The event of today is very significant in that our drive towards attaining universal health coverage is gaining momentum”, he said.

Sambo said that the development of the GIFSHIP insurance platform was meant to give everyone opportunity to join the health insurance scheme irrespective of where he or she works.

He said that Federal Executive Council has approved a proposal put forward by the NHIS management to embark on massive infrastructure development at all its offices nationwide and ensure the deployment of information and communication technology devices that will ensure its operations become automated in the next few months.

Sambo said that with the deployment of the ICT infrastructure, individuals would be able to sit in the comfort of their homes and register for the health scheme online.