Cancer patients enrolled in the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) scheme can now access financial support of up to N400,000 for radiotherapy treatment under a new cost-sharing arrangement introduced by the authority.
The NHIA Director-General, Dr Kelechi Ohiri, disclosed this in Abuja during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), explaining that the initiative was designed to ease the financial pressure associated with cancer treatment.
Under the arrangement, the NHIA will pay 50 per cent of a patient’s radiotherapy bill, subject to a maximum contribution of N400,000.
Ohiri said the intervention was necessary because the high cost of cancer treatment had made it difficult for some patients to commence or complete their treatment, particularly those requiring specialised care.
He explained that the authority was working with oncology centres across the country to expand access to radiotherapy and improve the quality of cancer services available to insured Nigerians.
According to him, the NHIA is also seeking to accredit more treatment centres while strengthening collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and suppliers of medical equipment.
The NHIA chief executive further disclosed that the authority’s cancer coverage extends beyond radiotherapy to include several diagnostic and treatment services under its formal sector programme and the Group Individual and Family Social Health Insurance Programme (GIFSHIP).
Covered diagnostic services, he said, include MRI and CT scans, mammography, ultrasound, histology, endoscopy and tumour marker tests.
He added that selected cancer-related surgeries, including mastectomy and prostatectomy, as well as some chemotherapy drugs, are also covered through various cost-sharing arrangements.
Ohiri revealed that more than 200 cancer patients undergoing treatment at seven tertiary healthcare institutions nationwide had already benefited from the authority’s medicine cost-sharing programme.
He said the NHIA would continue to expand its interventions with the aim of reducing financial barriers and ensuring that more Nigerians receive timely and essential cancer care.
