Nigeria, July 3 -- The management of Nigeria's Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) said it has embarked on a reconciliation exercise to finally end "the disruptive contentions between Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) and Health Care Facilities (HCFs) over claims of unpaid bills, which have been known to result in in-service failure of the scheme".

This exercise is part of a series of confidence building initiatives of the new Executive Secretary of the Scheme, Mohammed Sambo, a statement Thursday by the NHIS spokesperson, Ayo Osinlu, said.

The move came barely a year after the Nigerian senate gave the NHIS management three months to direct HMOs to settle all outstanding debt owed all healthcare providers in Nigeria.

Mr Osinlu's state...