Clerics praise healthcare insurance,caution on formulating regulations

Members of the Interfaith Standing Committee on Economic Justice and Integrity of Creation (ISCEJIC), issued this appeal at their meeting in Dar es Salaam yesterday, where religious leaders and other stakeholders hailed the government for coming up with the legislation.

They said the new law is aimed at ensuring that all people have access to the full range of quality health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship.

Bishop Nelson Kisare, the ISCEJIC chairman, was pleased that the quest for universal health coverage (UHC), has finally got its law, affirming that the government has shown that it is committed to implement recommendations issued by the public.

He said that religious leaders are always ready to collaboratively work with the government in various matters for the development and welfare of the nation.

The meeting brought faith leaders and non-state actors for reflections on the effort and collective future action on UHI, where the bishop appealed to the government to ensure that stakeholders are closely engaged during the formulation of regulations.

This is vital to ensure that there is no group which is left behind, he said, underscoring the need for increased public awareness on UHI to ease adhesion to the mass enrolment scheme when it starts.

The regulations need to identify more tax ring-fencing mechanisms from various sources such as extractive industries tax resources, apart from the current ones, in order to finance health insurance for Tanzanians, he declared.

The special fund to finance health services for vulnerable groups need more sources of revenues in order to ensure that the groups access quality medical services without challenges.

“The new universal coverage scheme requires citizens to pay a fee depending on their income, with special measures to finance healthcare for 15.8m Tanzanians (26 per cent of the population) who are unable to pay,” he reflected.

These measures will include taxes on fizzy drinks, alcohol, cosmetics, gambling, and certain electronic transactions, as well as a fee on motor vehicle insurance, he said, affirming that these sources are not enough “and we cannot see commitment here. We want to see more sources of revenues to finance these groups,” the cleric intoned.

Sheikh Khamis Mataka, the working committee chairman, said that a study conducted on the issue showed that there are many Tanzanians who are unable to access health care as they live in extreme poverty.

“We realized that there is a great need for every Tanzanian to be enrolled into a health fund in order to save their lives, because many are sick but they fail to access health care due to poverty,” Sheikh Mataka explained.

Praising the government for working on the faith actors’ recommendations on the legislation, he stated that this will guarantee access to quality health care services for all people.

Gloria Mafole, an interfaith technical advisor, said that religious leaders understand the magnitude of the problem and how it affects society. That’s why they were tirelessly pushing for UHC, she asserted.

“Stakeholders are happy that their voices have been heard after more than five years of advocating,” she elaborated, noting that the faith leaders would like to see their recommendations being considered when developing regulations for operationalizing the legislation.

Participants noted that religious leaders have been in the forefront pushing the campaign on healthcare social security since 2018 for ensuring that everyone regardless of economic status, has access to quality health services.

In 2018, clerics directed the holding of a research exercise on “making it possible,” focusing on how tax commitments can move Tanzanians towards universal health coverage.

There was an earlier study, ‘One Billion Dollar Question Revisited; (2017) which similarly aimed at showcasing how much Tanzania is losing in potential tax revenue. It provided recommendations to improve tax collections to finance social services delivery including realizing universal health coverage, the meeting was told.

The interfaith standing committee is a nationwide platform engaging major faith communities, hosted jointly by the National Muslim Council of Tanzania (BAKWATA), the Tanzania Episcopal Conference (TEC) and the Christian Council of Tanzania (CCT).