LAGOS/Nigeria: SUNU Health Maintenance Organisation (HMO) has reaffirmed its commitment to ensuring prompt access to quality healthcare for its enrollees, pledging to strengthen collaboration with healthcare providers and regulators to improve service delivery and enhance patients’ experience across the country.
The assurance was given by the Chief Operations Officer of SUNU HMO, Dr. Faith Nwachi, at the Lagos-Ogun Second Quarter Providers’ Forum 2026 held in Lagos. The forum, themed “Improving Quality Healthcare Access Through a Stronger Provider Network,” brought together healthcare providers, officials of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), government agencies and other stakeholders to review service delivery and chart strategies for improving healthcare access under the National Health Insurance Scheme.
Speaking at the event, Nwachi said SUNU HMO remained committed to operating within the provisions of the law to ensure that every enrollee receives timely, affordable and quality healthcare services. She explained that the providers’ forum has become an important platform for evaluating the organisation’s performance, identifying operational challenges and strengthening partnerships aimed at improving healthcare delivery.
According to her, the forum provides an opportunity for the HMO to receive direct feedback from healthcare providers, enrollees and the National Health Insurance Authority on emerging issues within the health insurance ecosystem. She noted that such engagements enable stakeholders to understand new regulatory policies, harmonise operational procedures and collectively develop solutions that will guarantee seamless healthcare access for enrollees.
“We will continue to organise this forum because it enables us to listen to our providers, hear from our enrollees and receive policy updates from the NHIA. These engagements help us improve our services and ensure that our enrollees enjoy a better healthcare experience,” she said.
Also speaking, the NHIA Lagos State Coordinator, Ikeja Office, Dr. Bethuel-Kasimu Abraham, said the forum was expected to reduce delays in accessing medical care, improve continuity of treatment, strengthen accountability among Health Maintenance Organisations and ultimately deliver better health outcomes for Nigerians enrolled under the scheme.
Abraham disclosed that the NHIA has introduced a one-hour authorisation policy, requiring HMOs to respond to healthcare providers’ requests for treatment authorisation within one hour. He warned that any HMO that fails to comply with the directive should be reported to the Authority for appropriate sanctions, stressing that the policy was introduced to eliminate unnecessary delays in patients receiving medical attention.
On his part, the Ogun State Coordinator of the NHIA, Mr. Dare Adefeso, identified recurring complaints from enrollees, including the unavailability of prescribed drugs in some facilities and cases of discrimination against health insurance beneficiaries. He assured stakeholders that the Authority was addressing the concerns and disclosed that all accredited healthcare facilities would be required to fully integrate health insurance enrollees into their service delivery systems to improve access and quality of care.
In her remarks, the Ogun State Director of the National Orientation Agency (NOA), Mrs. Aishat Tiamiyu, reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to public enlightenment on the benefits of health insurance. She disclosed that the agency has been enrolled with SUNU Health HMO for more than 25 years, describing the experience as rewarding, and encouraged newly recruited public servants and other Nigerians yet to embrace health insurance to enrol and take advantage of its numerous benefits.
Participants at the forum commended SUNU HMO for sustaining regular engagement with providers and regulators, noting that stronger collaboration, prompt authorisation of treatments and continuous stakeholder dialogue would significantly improve healthcare delivery and promote universal health coverage in Nigeria.
