Also, earlier this week the Health Ministry invited different stakeholders to review the critical work the Technical Committee undertook to advise on the prioritisation of essential health services.
According to the organizers, the workshop will seek to solicit stakeholder input into parameter estimates and assumptions made in the analysis of interventions included in the National Essential Health Care Package.
Yaya Barjo, the senior health economist at the Ministry of Health, outlined the roadmap for the national health insurance health benefit package.
He said looking for health care based on key principles such as the most pressing needs in the Gambia, what Gambians are suffering from, what are key services, “we should put in place what will provide value for the money.”
Dr. Mustapha Bittaye, the director of Health Services at the Ministry of Health, said the goal of the national health insurance benefit package is to protect, promote and fulfill the right to health care services for all Gambian citizens.
"If you go to any health centre or pharmacy with your health insurance card once it is activated, when you show it, you will be taken care of based on the interventions we are going to discuss," he said.
"So we are saying which diseases should we consider in the health insurance services? This is what we are selecting here – that is why we have people from the university, the community and the government."
Dr. Desta A. Tiruneh, the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative to The Gambia, said one point is need for prioritisation as a quick assessment was done in Africa and it turned out that more than half of the continent cannot afford basic essential services.
Therefore, The Gambia government initiated the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2020.
The implementation of the NHIS is expected to reduce out of pocket expenditures on health – which currently is estimated at 24% based on the 2017 national health accounts.
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