Jonathan lauds Globacom on mobile health scheme

President Goodluck Jonathan has commended Nigeria’s National telecommunications carrier, Globacom, alongside other key stakeholders, for facilitating the National Mobile Health Insurance Programme (NMHIP).
The mobile health insurance was formally commissioned by the President, represented by the Minister of Health, Dr. Khaliru Alhassan, at the Sheraton Hotel, Abuja.
Jonathan said the stakeholders deserve commendations, especially because the National Health Insurance Scheme will play a major role in assisting Nigeria to tackle various diseases in the country.
He said the collaborative efforts of the telecom operators in the country on the NHIS will not only help the nation to check the spread of communicable diseases, but also help to bring health to millions of Nigerians through their telephone handsets.
The President urged Nigerians to embrace personal hygiene and imbibe the habit of washing their hands regularly to enable them to curb the spread of diseases among citizens.
He subsequently flagged off the Hand Sanitization Distribution Campaign that is expected to spread across the country.
The Chief Executive Officer of NHIS, Dr. Femi Thomas, said that the scheme was a novel one across the world.
He revealed his team visited the United States of America to see how the Obamacare health project works, and also a number of other countries, but had to resort to developing a home-grown initiative that will most benefit Nigerians.
He said the team then reached out to telecom operators for their collaboration to implement the mobile health initiative.
Thomas commended Globacom and other telecoms operators in the country for providing their infrastructure for the project. “We recognise the contribution of Globacom and other operators that have helped us to run this maiden initiative on their platform,” he said.
According to Thomas, over 40 million Nigerians are expected to register on the NHIS platform following the launch.
Globacom developed the Glo Health Cover mobile health which guarantees its customers and other Nigerians free consultation and medication in over 8,000 hospitals in the country.
National Sales Coordinator (North-West), Globacom, Mr. Sam Edoho, said the Glo Health Cover is one of the exciting ways Globacom empowers Nigerians.
He explained that good health leads to a better and long life. He called on Nigerians to avail themselves of the benefits of the Glo Health Cover.
The benefits of the initiative, according to him, include “free medicines at NHIS accredited pharmacies, extensive maternal and child health services, and unlimited visits and health cover value.”
“All a subscriber needs to do is to dial *616# on his mobile phone and he will be welcomed to the Glo Health platform where you will register,” said Edoho.