ABSTRACT

Introduction: The deplorable state of healthcare delivery in some nations across the world, particularly developing countries; has called for concerted effort of stakeholders in health sector. In Nigeria, there is a general consensus among healthcare providers that, integration of National Healthcare Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the health care system and its effective operation are essential in improve the quality of healthcare delivery. Previous studies concentrated largely on population other than healthcare providers; and such studies were mostly carried out outside Oyo State.  This study therefore, examined knowledge of national health insurance scheme among healthcare providers of public hospitals in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Methods: A descriptive survey design was used to examine the knowledge of 100 health care providers from public owned hospitals in Ibadan Metropolis. The purposive, stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select the respondents. Data were collected using questionnaire as instrument, with a reliability coefficient of 0.70. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviation were used to analyse the collected data.

Results: The study revealed that healthcare providers of public hospitals in Ibadan Metropolis had extensive knowledge of formation (weighted =1.94), operation (weighted =1.92) and benefits of enrolling to the National Health Insurance Scheme (weighted =1.91).

Conclusion: The study established that health care providers of public hospitals in Ibadan Metropolis; had broad understanding of formation, operation and benefits of enrolling to the National Health Insurance Scheme.

Recommendation: The Oyo State Hospital Management Board should intensify effort to organize periodic capacity building; to update the knowledge of health care providers specifically on provision of services to the contributors of the Scheme.

Keywords: Healthcare providers, Public hospital and Ibadan Metropolis.