Extend NHIS to Infertility Cases, UITH Chief Says
University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Chief Medical Director (CMD), Prof Abdulwaheed Olatinwo, has canvassed extension of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to persons with infertility, adding that infertility is not a problem for women alone.
According to him, statistics have shown that the degree of the reproductive deformity in women is the same as those in their male counterparts.
While infertility has raised many ethical, legal and social questions, the cost of managing it, Oatinwo said, remained enormous and required government’s interventions.
Olatinwo, who said this while delivering the 178th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), said the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) has become the most efficient method in removing the societal stigma of infertility from many couples.
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In a lecture titled: “Help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless: the medicine of reproductive possibility’’, Prof Olatinwo said: “Infertility should be made a public health issue because it is socially constricted, existing at the crossroads of medical and social realms. It’s management should, therefore, be given special consideration under the NHIS to ease the burden of the affected individuals.”He advocated preventive strategies for preventing infertility and child-maternal death in Nigeria.
Olatinwo, who lamented the financial constraints of persons suffering from infertility in accessing the ART, said unless his propositions were adopted, many Nigerians might die childless.
He said: “ART has emerged as one of the most widely adopted and successful medical technologies in the last century. While giving hope to millions of couples suffering from infertility, unfortunately, ART services are inaccessible to large sections of the population, mainly due to very high cost of treatment.
“ART also has presented new ethical, legal and social questions that society must address. Many countries have taken steps to regulate certain aspects of ART. However, such are still in very rudimentary stages in Nigeria.
“There is an urgent need for stakeholders (fertility specialists, clients, professional organisations, religious bodies, bio-ethicists, and government) in developing countries, to formulate cultural and context -specific guidelines to address some of these ethical dilemmas.”
Although the UITH boss urged the government to improve on electricity generation and distribution in Nigeria, he added that the government should collaborate with the private sector “who are the main providers of IVY services” by way of reducing or waiving taxes for IVF, drugs, and consumables.
Besides, Olatinwo urged the National Assembly to pass the Bill on the establishment of the ‘Nigerian- Assisted Reproduction Authority’, sponsored by the National Association of Fertility and Reproductive Health (AFRH-Nigeria), to serve as a starting point for regulation of ART practice in the country.
Olatinwo said the ART unit he established at the UITH has been rated as one of best in the public health sector, adding that the unit had taken deliveries of over 30 babies, including sets of twins and triplets.
By: Adekunle Jimoh
The Nation News
