Under its new fitness policy, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has charged the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the responsibility to conduct and validate the medical fitness of prospective corps members (PCMs) before the commencement of their orientation course.

The medical tests will henceforth be conducted at NYSC orientation camp clinics nationwide, under the supervision of consultants drawn from tertiary health institutions across the country.

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This new development came seven months after FIJ’s investigation revealing how some public health institutions fabricate medical fitness certificates with bizarre medical histories to unsuspecting prospective corps members for in exchange for money.

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The story revealed instances of falsified medical fitness certificates issued to PCMs to conceal their true states of health, a practice that ultimately deceives NYSC orientation camp officials.

The report also chronicled instances of disastrous outcomes for corps members linked to impropriety in procurement of medical fitness certificates.

To address the issues raised in the report, Omotade Folorunsho, NYSC’s Director, Corps Welfare and Health Service Department, had acknowledged the existence of these anomalies. Folorunsho, who was speaking during a radio programme in April, also promised that the scheme would address the issue.

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True to Folorunsho’s pledge, on Tuesday, the scheme’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Eddy Megwa, announced the new policy, disclosing the involvement of NHIS in the new arrangement for the confirmation of medical fitness for the PCMs.

He explained that the new policy, which will start with 2022 Batch ‘C’ orientation course, will help the scheme with credible information on the PCMs health statuses ahead of the orientation course exercises and protect them from exploitation by unscrupulous elements in public health institutions.

“In order to avail the scheme credible information on their health status and also protect them from exploitation by unscrupulous persons, it is pertinent to note that the NYSC Orientation Camp Clinics across the nation are managed by the National Health Insurance Authority with the supervision of consultants from tertiary health institutions,” read Folorunsho’s statement.

“In view of the regimentation and physical demands of some activities of the NYSC orientation programme, the management of the scheme introduced presentation of Certificate of Fitness from recognised public health facilities by prospective corps members as a requirement for registration at the orientation camp.

“The essence is to enable camp officials manage those who are not fit to undertake certain activities in the camp. This has been largely misunderstood, leading to extortion of some prospective corps members by fraudulent individuals in their bid to secure such documents some of which may not stand a test of integrity.”

NYSC commenced orientation course for the 2022 batch C corps member on Wednesday.