The Prisons Care and Counselling Association (PRISCAA) has urged government to extend the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIMA) to vulnerable groups such as prisoners to help them access quality healthcare while they are incarcerated.
PRISCCA Executive Director Dr. Godfrey Malembeka says the need for proper health care services for inmates in correctional facilities cannot be overemphasised, noting that inmates like other people encounter various health challenges that may need specialised services which require huge sums of money.
He notes that the failure by most inmates to contribute to this scheme leaves them vulnerable and unable to access quality healthcare meaning they need to be exempted from making mandatory contributions to the scheme.
The National Health Insurance Act in Section 16 provides for exemptions from contributions and this relates to the mentally or physically disabled, elderly persons above 65 years, persons classified as poor and vulnerable by the ministry responsible for social welfare and any other person as may be described by the minister.
PRISCCA is of the considered view that persons in incarceration, who are poor and vulnerable be expressly included and covered by the Act.
