From Esther Akaa, Lafia
The Executive Secretary, Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA), Dr Gaza Gwamna says the agency has so far enrolled 100, 000 residents in its health insurance scheme.
Gwamna stated this at a town hall meeting held on Tuesday in Lafia to mark the International Universal Health Coverage.
According to him, about 100, 000 of those enrolled have started benefiting from healthcare services from various medical facilities across the state.
“As at today we have been able to to enroll over 100,000 persons and they are already accessing care and the beneficiaries are cut across all programmes .
“The programmes are categorised based on the population where you fall. Some are for the vulnerable population, some for formal population which are the civil servants while others are for tertiary institutions and some are for secondary school students.
“We also have for people that are adopted that is people who are able to pay for treatment of people who ordinarily wouldn’t have been able to afford it,” he said.
Gwamna called on healthcare providers to be professional in thier conduct and give the enrollment exercise the desired services, in order to increase confidence of the people in the insurance scheme.
He, assured that the agency would continue to strive hard towards achieving universal health coverage for residents of the state.
Gwamna further stated that since the inauguration of the programme in 2019, a lot of the people have benefited from medical services with little challenges which he said they were working to address.
“We are about three exactly today since the official launch of the scheme by His Excellency Engr Abdullahi Sule but the agency was established shortly after his assumption to office. So everything we have done is within the administration of Engr A.A Sule,” he said.
The NASHIA boss lauded Governor Sule for the support to the agency to achieve the feat they have achieved so far even as he commended spirited individuals, who adopted and paid for indigent people in their communities and called on others to emulate them.
On his part, Deputy Governor of the state, Dr Emmanuel Akabe, represented by the Commissioner for Health in the state, Pharm. Ahmed Yahaya, said healthcare services was one of the topmost priority of the state government under Governor Sule.
Akabe noted that the state government was up to date in the payment of money to complement the deduction made to civil servants under the scheme for workers to benefit from medical services.
He also said that government would continue to provide quality healthcare services by ensuring infrastructural development, equipment as well as qualified manpower.
The deputy governor commended the agency for its performance in the last three years, urging them to sustain the tempo.
“This agency has performed well by ensuring that it health insurance scheme in the state is accessible by all residents and the agency has also attracted both local and international donors to the state,” he said.
Speaking separately, Fatima Musa and Clement Gono, who spoke on behalf of the beneficiaries, commended Governor Sule for introducing the health insurance scheme in the state.
The beneficiaries said that they have benefited from medical services and paid only 10 percent of their medical bills since their enrollment into the health insurance scheme.