Corps members to get health insurance as NYSC partners NHIS

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) says its members will now get one-year health insurance.

The scheme, on Friday, flagged off the enrollment of corps members into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in a collaboration that will provide healthcare services to participants of the compulsory one-year programme.

At the flag-off event held in Abuja, Shuaibu Ibrahim, NYSC DG, said the insurance scheme would provide health coverage to corps members from pre-orientation to three weeks after disengagement from the service.

Ibrahim said the enrolment of corps members into the health insurance scheme was a decision by President Muhammadu Buhari aimed at improving the welfare and security of corps members during their service year.

He said the scheme has put in place an adequate mechanism to monitor the enrolment and service delivery procedures of the HMOs to prevent failure.

The DG assured that NYSC would monitor the operation of the health scheme to ensure it’s seamless.

“Today’s event is the culmination of the presidential directive issued in 2016, which arose as a result of the unfortunate deaths of three corps members deployed to Kano, Zamfara, and Bayelsa states’ camps,” he said.

“This health initiative, known as the NYSC Group Individual Family Social Health Insurance programme (GIFSHIP), covers the period of orientation, to three weeks after disengagement from service.

“For effective implementation, six Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) from the six Geo-Political zones of the country have been selected to drive the process.”

Speaking at the flag-off, Mohammed Sambo, the executive secretary of the NHIS, urged all HMOs and healthcare providers to work according to the rules governing the operations of the NHIS to enable corps members to benefit.

“A lot of work has been undertaken in the areas of developing the framework that will enable the NHIS and the NYSC to administer this programme seamlessly,” Sambo added.

“In 2021, we got the approval and inclusion of funding for the NYSC coverage. I am sure that this programme will be implemented without any hitch.”