Regional healthcare players have called for harmonisation of the various national health insurance systems as part of the East African Community integration agenda.

This was during a consultative meeting held in Kigali on Monday.

"The move would enable people get health care in any of the partner states and there would be a uniform billing system,” noted Dr Paul Rubeya, a technical director with the Ministry for Public Service and Social Security in Burundi.

Angelique Rwiyereka, the managing director of Global Health Issues and solutions(GHIS),  a local research firm, said Rwanda tops the region in health insurance coverage, standing at  about 95 per cent, followed by  Burundi with  65 per cent , Kenya with  32 per cent, Tanzania 19 per cent, while coverage in Uganda stands at less than 1 per cent.

The meeting aimed at analysing challenges and coming up with recommendations on the possibility of creating a uniform social health protection system in the region.

Rubeya observed that there was need to share best practices in order to realise such a regional coverage programme.

There is need to draw lessons from Rwanda on how best to manage the community-based health insurance system, he said.

Dr Robert Basaza, a research scientist with Makerere University  who represented Uganda, noted that because of lack of a health insurance system in his country, the number  of people selling off property to clear medical bills had risen from  4 per cent to 26 per cent over the years in his country.

"My country is committed to providing health insurance but the challenge is with implementation,” Dr Basaza said.

He said helping every citizen acquire health insurance is a priority in the country’s long term development programmes like Vision 2040.

"We shall soon table a bill in Parliament seeking to make health insurance a must for every citizen,” he said.

A July 2014 report by GHIS aimed at evaluating the feasibility of harmonising social health protection systems in the region recommended that partner states should design local and transparent systems to identify the poor that need to be subsidised by the government.

It also calls for harmonised regional training and provision of incentives to healthcare providers.

"Creating a task force that will be charged with advising respective governments and sharing best practices on social health protection system is necessary,” it said.

Rwanda’s Mutuelle de Sante (Community Based Health Insurance Scheme) was moved from the health ministry to Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) earlier this year on the recommendation of the National Leadership Retreat.

Dr Innocent Gakwaya, the Deputy Director General in charge of benefits at RSSB, said that the transfer aimed at increasing transparency and efficiency.

In Rwanda, the rate of enrollment in mutuelles de santé has oscillated above 75 per cent in the past seven years, a significant increase from under 40 per cent in 2005, when the number of women who died during pregnancy and childbirth stood at 1,075 per 100,000 births.