Glo launches national mobile health insurance product

• Targets millions of Nigerians to get free drugs, others
• Bags Industry award

NIGERIA’S Telecommunications firm, Globacom, has collaborated with the National Health Insurance Scheme and other agencies to introduce a National Mobile Health Insurance Product to assist in  improving access to quality health care among the Nigerian populace.

The health insurance product was formally launched in Abuja on Monday by top Globacom officials and senior officials of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

At the ceremony, Globacom’s Regional Chief Marketing Officer, Ashok Israni, said the package was developed in conjunction with the NHIS to enhance the health care of millions of Nigerians through their telephone handsets.

Israni said: “There are millions of Nigerians yet to tap into the immense benefits of health insurance. This initiative will open a viable avenue for some of these people to come under the health insurance coverage, enabling them to sign up for one of the many Health Management Organisations accommodated in the scheme,”

To access the package, Israni disclosed that Glo subscribers are required to dial *616# on their mobile phones to be instantly admitted to the Glo Health platform, where they can follow a simple registration process.

“Once they subscribe, Globacom customers will be able to use their mobile phones for pre-defined medical treatment for which affordable premiums are remitted through the subscribers’ mobile phone”, he added.

According to him, the application also guarantees Globacom customers and other Nigerians free medical consultation and medication in over 8,000 hospitals in the country.

Israni said Globacom’s package comes with supply of drugs free of charge from NHIS accredited operators across the country for subscribers who are consistent in the payment of their premiums.

He posited that the premiums have been deliberately made affordable for virtually every interested Nigerian adding that subscribers can pay N35 per day, N250 per week or N1000 per month to qualify to benefit from the mobile insurance package.

While admonishing Nigerians to take issues of health more seriously, since no one   knows when he or she will fall ill and require medical attention.

“The beauty of health insurance is that it takes away the burden of worrying whether you will have any money left in your account or in your wallet when next you fall sick.

With health insurance cover, anytime you fall sick, you can rest assured that you will have access to quality medical treatment even if you have nothing left in your wallet or in your bank account,” he noted. The Chairman of Salt & Einstein MTS, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, who also spoke at the ceremony, stated that the scheme will help to encourage Nigerians to seek medicare when they are sick without being afraid of its cost.

According to him, with the new product, the fear of health care cost among Nigerians would disappear.
The Executive Secretary of NHIS, Dr. Femi Thomas, said that the scheme lessens the cost of treatment for subscribers by allowing them to share the health care cost. He thanked Globacom for collaborating with the other partners on the innovative scheme.

Meanwhile, at the weekend, in Lagos, Globacom was voted the best telecommunications company in the country at the 2015 edition of Beacon of ICT awards.

The total telecommunications solutions company won in three categories. The awards were for Best Telecoms Company of the Year, Most Innovative Mobile Player of the Year and Undersea Cable Company of the Year.

Publishers of CommunicationsWeek, organizers of the award, said Globacom emerged tops in the award categories in an online poll conducted from December last year to March 30, 2015, in which over 900,000 respondents participated.

Globacom was voted the Best Telecoms Company of the Year because of its revolutionary role in the industry. The organisers noted that the company has continued to invest in new technology to boost service delivery.

Chairman of Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, who presented the award to Globacom, noted that the company had since pioneering per second billing remained a Beacon and pride of Nigeria in the telecoms industry.

On the second award, the Most Innovative Mobile Player, Globacom was chosen for pioneering most innovations in the industry. CommunicationsWeek added that Globacom has continued to distinguish itself as a leader by introducing innovative voice and data services in the industry.

In voting Glo Undersea Cable Company of the Year, Beacon of ICT Awards organizers said respondents took into account the emergence of Glo 1 as a major bandwidth provider in the West Africa sub-region. They noted that Glo 1 had become the preferred bandwidth service provider for several companies in telecoms, oil and gas, construction, banking, and manufacturing and other critical sectors.