In a transfer to increase healthcare entry throughout Liberia, the Authorities has formally launched the nation’s first medical insurance coverage for weak residents.
By Kruah Thompson
Monrovia, June 6, 2025: The coverage, a pilot mission, was unveiled on the Ministry of Data, Cultural Affairs, and Tourism’s (MICAT) weekly press briefing on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
It targets between 3,000 to five,000 people throughout Montserrado, Margibi, and Bomi counties and it’s anticipated to run for the interval of six month.
The initiative is a joint effort involving the Nationwide Insurance coverage Company of Liberia (NICOL), the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), and the Nationwide Identification Registry (NIR), all of whom over the week signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to roll out what’s being described as a foundational step towards attaining common well being protection in Liberia.
Talking on the press briefing, Abdullah Swaray, Performing Managing Director of NICOL, emphasised that the pilot is in direct response to a mandate issued by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai throughout his inauguration in 2024.
In accordance with Swaray, the President instructed his administration to make sure that no Liberian needs to be denied healthcare entry just because they can not afford it.
Underneath the settlement, NICOL will present the insurance coverage protection, taking part well being amenities will supply medical analysis and therapy to vollurable cotizen, and the payments can be settled by the insure who’s pay by NICOL.
“The MOU indicators the significance of interagency collaboration. It exhibits that if there’s nationwide will, authorities establishments can work collectively in actual time to ship options by expertise.” Swaray famous
Nonetheless, he says the Liberia Telecommunications Authority is tasked with the duty of offering the technological infrastructure to facilitate the method by guaranteeing a fraud-free enrollment course of.
Additionally, Chairperson of the LTA, Abdullah L. Kamara, expressed satisfaction with the digital assist his establishment is about to supply, saying that “We’re proud to convey digital instruments to assist this well being protection initiative.
The LTA is a key sponsor of the pilot program below our broader digital transformation agenda,” Kamara stated.
Whereas full particulars of this system are nonetheless being refined, Kamara famous that the pilot part, beginning subsequent month, will assist take a look at and enhance the system earlier than it’s scaled up nationwide.
The Govt Director, Andrew Peters, of the Nationwide Identification Registry (NIR), who can be taking part in a crucial function in implementing the pilot mission, notes that nationwide ID playing cards can be a requirement for enrollment in this system.
To enrol extra folks below this system, he says, they’ve established 200 extra enrollment facilities throughout Liberia, deployed 500 cellular biometric registration kits, and constructed six regional information facilities.
In the meantime, he says, this six-month pilot mission is predicted to tell future laws that would institutionalize this system and lengthen protection to a wider section of the inhabitants, thereby guaranteeing that Liberia’s most weak are usually not left behind in accessing high quality healthcare.
