Lion Club urges NHIA, OSHIAto expand coverage for children with cancer, sickle cell
By Toba Adedeji The Lions Club International has urged the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and the Osun State Health Insurance Agency (OSHIA) to broaden their healthcare coverage to better
By Toba Adedeji
The Lions Club International has urged the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) and the Osun State Health Insurance Agency (OSHIA) to broaden their healthcare coverage to better cater for children suffering from cancer and sickle cell disease.
The club, through Achievers Lion Club service chairperson, Kayode Faniran, stressed the need for inclusive policies that will ease the financial burden on affected families and improve access to life-saving treatment.
Faniran, speaking during the club's advocacy visit to the health insurance agency office in Osogbo, Osun State, said the visit was aimed at pushing for policies that would improve access to healthcare for vulnerable children to reduce pressure on the parents.
According to him, we are here today on an advocacy visit to the state coordinator and his team, and our main purpose is to advocate for the inclusion of the NHIS coverage of children living with cancer and sickle cell anaemia.
“Our visit here has enlightened us because the discussion we had that NHIA is already working towards providing coverage, and at the moment, there is an intervention for cancer not necessarily childhood cancer but people of all ages who are living with cancer, and at the moment we are made to understand that there are packages that cover those health conditions to some extent.”
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Faniran, however, emphasised that more needs to be done, particularly for children, urging the authority to move beyond partial support to full coverage.
He added: “So what we are advocating for is the total coverage to really alleviate the suffering of the parents who have people leaving with cancer and sickle cell anaemia.”
In his remarks, the Head of Programs at the NHIA Osogbo Office, Agunbiade Musa, disclosed that the Federal Government, through the NHIA, has developed several interventions aimed at supporting cancer patients across all age groups, adding that individuals living with sickle cell anaemia are covered under the NHIA, provided they are properly enrolled in the scheme.
Meanwhile, the Executive Secretary of OSHIA, Dr. Razaq Akindele, said the agency's package is yet to cover those areas, adding that the possibility of exploring those areas is not foreclosed.
