Call for fishermen and peasants to join health insurance fund

THE Community Health Fund (CHF), a subsidiary division of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is campaigning for the fishermen and peasants across the country to join with the newly introduced health insurance fund in order to help them get free medical treatment services A senior official of the CHF which coordinates its activities on behalf of the NHIF in the country made the call last week in Dar es Salaam in an exclusive interview during a training seminar his organization had organized as part of their sensitization program. Health Fund Manager, Joyce Sumbwe, said that, peasants and farmers and many other groups of people who toil for a daily bread are the most marginalized groups who do compose the majority of the people in the informal sector and in view of this, it’s therefore imperative for them to join in order to benefit. She stressed the importance of the membership which could be beneficial to the unprivileged groups such as those working under the informal sectors in the country as most of them are not able to afford huge expenses of the medical treatments in the country. She said CHF was specifically established in an effort to improve heath services delivery to such people under the informal sector in order to get free medical treatment through their program known in Swahili language as ‘TIKA’ meaning ‘TIBA KWA KADI’ which literally means getting medical treatment through special cards.

She said, under TIKA program, CHF has been coordinating with district council’s officials such as counselors throughout the country in order to help sensitize the issue which could be seen to be important to the people as they are closer to them. She said members are families who include mothers and fathers and their children who are below 18 years old. A person who is above that, is considered to be a grown up and hence he or she is counted to be a family member so longer as they might be engaged in one way or another with the income generating activities. She said that TIKA program is specifically for people who are not in the pay rolls just like others who have their salaries deducted directly as contribution to the NHIF, adding that under this system the majority of the peasants and fishermen would benefit in future She noted that one task the CHF has in the country is to see how it stands and defend low income earners and ensure how they could join with this fund which specifically allows families and groups to be members by contributing a certain sum of money to the fund which is between Tsh. 5,000 and Tsh. 20,000 per year and as per family.

Their contribution is determined by their economic gain which depends in an area a contributor might be coming from, and this is necessitated by the negotiations reached upon the two parties on a particular sum of money to be contributed which according to her does not exceed Tsh. 20,000 per year. However, she has called on the media to help in coverage on this grand sensitization campaign in order to ensure that rural residents who form under the informal sector should get required information about CHF services and urge them to register for it. Then firm has prepared an inclusive framework for the people to fully participate in establishing the services and monitoring their implementation with guidance from CHF experts. According to her, the mode of delivery of CHF services requires a beneficiary to register and access the services by presenting the CHF card to a health facility within the district council he or she lives in the country. Statistics made available by NHIF through CHF shows that, since the program started in July 2009, the fund has managed to get 601,400 members out of approximately 7 million families estimated countrywide. These statistics are as up to March 2012. The National Health Insurance Fund was established in 1996 with a view to help government workers get free access to medical treatment by contributing a certain sum of money as contribution to the fund. The fund saw the need to establish a subsidiary sector to work on their behalf specifically to people who works in the informal sector.