Kwara State governor, Alh Abdulfatah Ahmed, has launched Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme, making it compulsory for all residents. Governor Ahmed, called on residents to register and take advantage of the statewide scheme to access affordable healthcare delivery in the state. He maintained that the launching had taken the state closer to achieving the dream of universal health coverage by making the scheme compulsory to all citizens and residents.
According to the governor, “the Kwara Health Insurance Law also provides for the establishment of the Kwara Health Insurance Fund (KHIF), which will pool resources from various sources, including premium contribution from residents, the state government subsidy for the very poor, multi-lateral grants, donations, support from the Federal Government and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS)”. Ahmed disclosed that an initial N200m had been set aside as the state’s capitalisation of KHIF to ensure the scheme is well funded.
The governor noted that the state is committed to contributing one per cent of the annual Consolidated Revenue Fund and to subsidise premiums and service delivery to those considered part of the poorest in the society as well as 40 per cent of funds received through the, “Saving One Million Lives Performance for Results Initiative”—an initiative of the Federal Ministry of Health, supported by the World Bank and targeted towards the improvement of maternal and child health in Nigeria.
“I have no doubt that this scheme is primed for success, not only because it is guaranteed to be sustainable, well-funded and well managed, but also because it will leverage digital technology to promote efficiency, and transparency”, Dr Ahmed said.
In his remarks, the deputy ambassador of the Royal Kingdom of the Netherlands to Nigeria, Mr Michel Deelen, promised that the Dutch government would strengthen its partnership with the Kwara State government to achieve universal health coverage in the state.
Also speaking, the Lead Health Sector Specialist and head of the World Bank Group’s Health in Africa Initiative, Prof Khama Rogo, announced that over 4 million dollars had been earmarked for Kwara State to strengthen the healthcare service delivery to the people. Rogo, who noted that many African leaders wanted to carry out health insurance scheme without success, described the scheme as a restoration of dignity to the people of the state.
In his address, the executive secretary, National Health Insurance Scheme, Professor Yusuf Usman, promised to partner the state to guarantee the success of the scheme. The executive secretary, Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme, Doctor Bunmi Jetawo-Winter, had explained that the scheme was a well thought out and carefully planned scheme to ensure affordable and accessible health care service delivery across the state with each enrolee paying only N25 premium per day.
She said the newly established Health Insurance Agency, will commence registration for the State Health Insurance Scheme in August. Jetawo-Winter disclosed that the registration exercise will hold for 90 days across the 193 wards of the state. She added that during the registration period, the agency will capture all baseline health information, and bio-data of all residents, which she said, will form the bedrock of standardisation of operations of the scheme.
The executive secretary added that the identification of the poor and special populations, including people living with disabilities, will also take place during the registration exercise.
She noted that an insurance card would be issued to every individual registered under the scheme, and that enrolment would commence once the cards have been issued.
According to her, with this card, coverage averages out to a little less than N25 per day. Jetawo-Winter said that those registered will enjoy health benefits covered under the scheme such as maternal and child care services, emergency care services, minor surgeries, everyday ailments, chronic illnesses such as diabetes and high blood pressure, preventive health education, among other benefits.
She called on relevant stakeholders to continue to support the state government in its efforts to provide universal health coverage to all Kwarans, just as she also thanked all the technical partners of the health insurance scheme.
By: Oladipo Magaji
The Leadership News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
STOP paying for airtime and electricity, Let your phone pay its bills with ScreenT
You may also like
FG Supports Robotic Surgery Expansion to Reduce Medical Tourism
Nigeria is taking another step toward strengthening specialised healthcare …
Complete Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Package in Lagos
Knee replacement surgery is a major step toward pain relief and improved mo…
NAMDA threatens strike over unpaid medical lecturers’ allowances
The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has warned…
Resident Doctors Signal End to Strike Threat After High-Level Talks with Gbajabiamila
The threat of a nationwide indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of…
AMLSN Issues Strong Rejoinder to NAMDA on Public Service Establishment Matters
The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) has rel…
