February 14, (THEWILL) – Cross River State Health Commissioner, Dr Janet Ekpenyong, has disclosed that over 40,000 residents have so far registered for the state’s health insurance scheme.
Dr Ekpenyong disclosed this in Calabar, during the flag-off of access to care for the formal sector of the state’s health insurance scheme.
The flag-off was held by the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency, in conjunction with the State Ministry of Health and the office of the head of service.
She described the flag off as a win-win situation, as it will provide accessible healthcare to the people and also a sustainable means of funding the health sector.
“40,000 people have been registered into the scheme in the state and will receive their cards today.
“It’s a win-win situation for us and that’s why we needed the formal sector buy in, we had already started enrolment seven months ago and ninety days after that they should be able to access care.
“The beauty of it is that it is deducted from source and you need the buy in of civil servants to ensure that there is that sustainable financing that will continously service the health sector.
“This is key because once you are able to achieve this, you no longer need to depend on government funding”, she said.
She added that with this the health sector can just be on its own, they can desire to hire hands when there are gaps in human resource and also ensure we have drugs and all the needed consumables, infrastructural development and several other things.
On his part, the State’s Head of Service, Abang Okwaji, said only a government that has its people at heart can do this.
He thanked the labour union for robustly engaging with his office to ensure the successful takeoff of the scheme.
He said with the scheme, deductions are being done at source and his office is also working to ensure that workers at the local government level also enrol for the scheme.
He said there is a key performance indication template in place to reward hardworking officers and tasked managers of the scheme to ensure it is insulated from politics.
Also speaking, the Director General of the State’s Health insurance Scheme, Godwin Iyala, said with the flag off, civil servants in the state will now have access to care.
He added that if there is referral, the agency has signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital to guarantee service.
He thanked the state governor for the successes so far recorded and added that the state’s general hospital has been fully mobilised for the scheme and promised not to let labour down.
About the Author
THEWILL Correspondent, Aniekan Bassey has over six years experience that spans across several fields in print journalism including development communication, sexual reproductive and health rights issues, crime, climate change, social justice, business and human interest stories.
