Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) has paid 4.4bn/- to its 390 registered clients in the region between July and November this year, NHIF Regional Manager Jarlath Mushashu said on Wednesday.
Mr Mushashu revealed this during a one-day stakeholders’ meeting to discuss challenges facing NHIF members and how best to improve health services.
Mr Mushashu said there were 590 health centres in the region, but only 390 of them were registered as NHIF clients, thus calling on the rest to go for registration to expand health services to the majority of Tanzanians.
“Some of the paid clients were 49 health centres, 49 dispensaries, 17 district hospitals, six poly clinics and four regional hospitals. Others were two specialised clinics, two referral hospitals and one diagnosis centre,” he said, adding that: NHIF had put in place new mechanisms to maintain its members and expand the scope of registration for its new members.
About 12 members joined NHIF between July and November, with more than 100 extending their contracts in the same period.
However, he said, there were unscrupulous NHIF clients who had doubled the amount of claims while there were indicative prices for all medicines and operations/ services.
“This is among the reasons that sometimes lead to delays in payments. Let us be honest and address challenges facing us all for the betterment of our nation and its people,” insisted Mr Mushashu.
NHIF Director-General Benard Konga assured of the payment of claims in 14 days once submitted documents were clear.
He admitted to having been facing some challenges in the past that led to delays in payments, stressing: “We have addressed those challenges. Just stick to efficiency. Your claims will be cleared within two weeks.”
According to him, the mechanisms have been put in place to ensure every Tanzanian is insured for smooth and timely access to health services.
