Africa-Press – Tanzania. GOVERNMENT has launched a vigorous campaign targeting to recruit more people into the upgraded Community Health Fund (CHF), a scheme that has only connected 5 per cent or 3.3million people for over two decades since its inception.
Launching the nationwide campaign here on Monday, the Director of Health, Community Development and Nutrition in the Office of the President (Regional Administration and Local Government), Dr Ntuli Kapolongwe, said the goal is to ensure at least 20 million people are connected by 2021.
“We have low public turn up on registering for health insurance, this is despite the government continuing improving healthcare and treatment services across public health facilities,” he said.
Details show members of the public connected to healthcare insurance companies are only 14 per cent, which includes 8 per cent (National Health Insurance Fund), and 1 per cent registered by various private providers.
Dr Kapolongwe said the cost of joining the CHF is as low as 30,000/- in which six members of the family can receive healthcare services including x-rays, surgical and admissions in over 6,000 health facilities across the country.
For Dar es Salaam, however, the cost is 150,000/- for the family of six and 40,000/- for an individual. “For the past eight months, we upgraded the fund allowing members to be referred for medical attention outside their registered localities,” he said.
According to the Director limited access to health facilities and unstructured contribution had limited members of the public from joining the fund.In addition, Dr Kapolongwe said people were also discouraged joining the fund due to poor services.
Since President John Magufuli administration took office in 2015, about 102 hospitals, 487 health centres and 1498 dispensaries have been built. A total of 14,856 health officers have also been recruited further increasing the budget for medical supplies.
Records from the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Governments indicated that members of CHF contributed 14bn/- between January and December this year with the government topping up some 2.3bn/- to improve service delivery.
Dr Kapolongwe explained that the new campaign will be an endless warning regional and district health officials for any attempt that could jeopardies the government’s efforts to connect more people to the fund.
The official emphasized that it was through the health insurance that the general public can be relieved from the medical burden and thus help build a sustainable nation
