The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to give corps members health insurance cover during service.
The MoU was signed by the Executive Secretary of NHIS, Prof. Mohammed Sambo and the Director-General of NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, in Abuja on Tuesday.
Sambo said that the insurance cover would ensure that corps members were integrated into the scheme to enable them to properly access healthcare during their service year.
“We are working on the presidential mandate on leaving no one behind in the health insurance scheme.
“So, today, it is big step to ensure that corps members are integrated into the scheme, this will expand coverage ratio of the scheme and also access to health facilities for corps members,” Sambo said.
According to him, for the purpose of continuity the corps members after their service year will enrol on what is called kinship programme.
He said that the corps members would migrate from the NYSC insurance to kinship where a token is paid and when they are employed they would join the formal sector programme.
Also speaking, the D-G of NYSC said that the MoU was in line with presidential directive that corps members should be enrolled in the scheme.
Ibrahim said that such directive showed that the government was concerned about the health of corps members in the country.
According to him, such gesture will encourage the corps members to carry out their service properly.
Ibrahim said that the MoU would address the financial burden of the members in terms of health.