The Ultimate Health Management Services, a health maintenance organisation has recapitalised its capital base from N400 million to N1 billion surpassing the minimum requirement of N750 million set by the National Health Insurance Agency.

Angela Ajala, chairman of the board of directors for Ultimate HMO, made this while addressing journalists during the 13th Annual General Meeting of the organization.

Ajala, while explaining the rationale behind the move said, “We are progressing and because we are already futuristic in our ideas, we believe that we can do a billion. We are not restricting ourselves to just Nigeria.”

“We’re going beyond, so we need to expand our base and make sure that we can take on the expansion we’re doing,” she added

Reflecting on the past year’s achievements, Ajala highlighted the HMO’s successful diversification into the UK and the US markets. “This is a major achievement for us. It demonstrates our solid foundation in Nigeria and our ability to extend services to Nigerians in the diaspora who have family back home.

“We are now positioned to provide the same excellent service internationally as we do locally. I don’t believe any other HMO has reached this level of expansion,” she remarked.

Lekan Ewenla, chief executive officer of Ultimate Health Management Services mentioned that the organisation going with the NHIA on the proposed review of capitation fees to improve insurance services.

Ewenla underscored the necessity of the review in light of inflationary pressures and the need to address the widespread dissatisfaction among insured Nigerians regarding poor service quality.

“We are already interfacing with the leadership of the regulatory agency, and they are already looking at the upward review of the capitation and the fee for services,” he said.

Ewenla noted that the immediate ex-director general of the NHIA had increased the N128 Naira capitation for HMOs bearing risk at the secondary level to N146, but said the increase falls short given the current inflationary trends.