NHIF boss says members’ funds are safe

Henry Lyimo 

Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu

DAR ES SALAAM: THE government will pay back all the money it owes the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) from next financial year after completing verification of the

debts, the fund’s Director General, Dr Benard Konga has said.

He said at a meeting with editors and senior reporters of mainstream media in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the Minister for Health Ms Ummy Mwalimu had promised to include in the forthcoming budget a total of 129bn/- it borrowed to construct Benjamin Mkapa Referral Zonal Hospital in Dodoma.

“As we speak, the government has completed verification of all the money used which is 129bn/- ….and the Minister for Health said the money would be included in the budget and would be returned to the fund,” said Dr Konga at the meeting organised by the Treasury Registrar’s office.

The Benjamin Mkapa Referral Zonal Hospital was built through a loan guaranteed by the government through the NHIF. He admitted there was lack of documentation for the funds provided for the construction of the hospital because of changes in the ownership and objectives of the project.

According to him, initially, the government planned the hospital to become a zonal hospital and hence the construction project was placed under the Ministry of Health. Later on, the government thought it would be a teaching hospital under the University Of Dodoma (UDOM) before it reverted to original plans, he said.

Dr Konga said the government had also guaranteed a loan for the construction of the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute (MOI) in Dar es Salaam in the MOI Phase III project and it had begun making payments back to the fund after verification of the amount of funds used in the project.

“MOI phase III debt verification has already been done and payments have begun,” he said.

He said NHIF also provides medicine, medical equipment and facility improvement loans to service providers to improve the quality of services to beneficiaries and the public in general.

The fund provided over 24.4bn/- to 29 service providers from 2021/2022 to 2023/24 to help them improve services to beneficiaries and the public in general, he said.

He said 408 centres had benefitted from NHIF loans amounting to 222.48bn/- since 2007 when the programme began.

According to him, the loans were being managed by the Bank of Tanzania and had interest, with collateral being the services offered and the facilities of the centre. He said reimbursements are through monthly claims sent to the debtors.