The need for an insurance policy is critical to saving lives, says Prof Akech

Prof. John Akech, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Juba, has urged the government to develop a health insurance policy to save residents’ lives.

“If we had a health insurance system that was paid for by our salary, every one of us would be able to go to [a] hospital and obtain treatment,” Prof. Akech said.

“This money will pay for the consultant who will be in the operation at midnight (even) on Christmas Day,” he said.

He was speaking at a Juba event commemorating World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day.

Neglected Tropical Illnesses (NTDs) are infectious parasites and bacterial diseases that impact approximately one billion people in the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged populations, according to the World Health Organization. Neglected tropical diseases are responsible for an estimated 200,000 fatalities globally each year.

“In a well-organized society, you will find nurses on their feet dealing with crises,” Prof Akech said.

“In order to deliver health care, you must have a defined policy.” There are no physicians or nurses scurrying about the facility. Doctors attempting to be managers but failing because they lack financial resources,” he remarked.

As countries strive to reach the SDG agenda’s universal health coverage objectives, universal health coverage (UHC) has acquired traction in global health policy and academic circles.

For example, South Sudan, for example, has to take bold policy actions to develop healthcare insurance systems.

Prof Akech, a distinguished scholar, said that South Sudan requires a comprehensive strategy that incorporates everything, and that it would not happen by magic.

He expressed regret that even common avoidable illnesses with well-known remedies continue to kill people in Juba.

“People die from the same avoidable illnesses every time,” Prof. Akech said. “You know, in certain countries, if you go to a doctor and the doctor does not treat you, you have a right to sue the system.”

“I don’t believe we have the authority to since there is no policy here,” he continued.

“Doctors who graduated from the University of Juba two years ago are still unemployed, and they look shabby because they don’t have anything,” he underlined.

However, Akech said that the University of Juba has devised a solution to address the country’s healthcare delivery issue.

“I calculated and discovered that the British National Health Services (NHS), created three years after World War II’s conclusion, is a system that I and my family employ.” “It looks for you from infancy to death,” he said emphatically.

Prof. Akech said that his team has offered a plan to alter the wage system for everyone based on that idea, and he hopes that someone would listen.