By Our Reporter
The Executive Secretary, Enugu State Agency for Universal Health Coverage (ESA-UHC), Dr Edith Okolo says 29, 000 vulnerable persons will be enrolled in the Social Healthcare Insurance Scheme in the state.
Okolo disclosed this on Wednesday in Enugu during a workshop on Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) 2020 Guideline and National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) Implementation Protocol for Staff of ESA-UHC.
The executive secretary said that the state government had by such move shown its readiness to provide social health insurance for the vulnerable persons in the informal sector.
She said that the state government had paid its counterpart fund as a prerequisite for participation in the programme.
“The state has also received N353million from the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund that will help us to enroll the vulnerable persons free of charge.
“The enrollment process has since started,” she said.
Okolo said that the training would acquaint staff of the agency with the NHIS gateways for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.
Also, the State Coordinator, NHIS in the state, Mrs Ahunna Ochor, said that the programme was part of efforts by governments at all levels to provide affordable healthcare for the people.
Ochor said that government was not unmindful of the devastating effects of infant and maternal mortality, adding that the move would address such problems.
She said that the move to provide affordable healthcare to the people was in tune with the provisions of the National Healthcare Act, 2014.
The coordinator said that the overall aim of the act was to strengthen Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs), especially, in the rural areas.
“Most of the PHCs are neglected and have fewer personnel but with the provision of this fund, the NHIS has made it imperative to improve on the facilities and for the staff of the agency to learn how to run the programme.
“That is why we are having this training for the staff of the agency in the state,” she said.
Ochor said that the registration of the vulnerable persons into the scheme was an indication that the state government had keyed into the Universal Health Coverage for the informal sector.
“The state government has accepted the programme, established the ESA-UHC and has paid the equity fund for the programme to take off,” she said.
Ochor said that the participants would be trained on how to enroll and accredit healthcare facilities that would participate in the scheme.
“This training will expose them on how to accredit PHC facilities in conjunction with NHIS staff ,” she said.
She said that those to be enrolled into the scheme as beneficiaries included children under five years, pregnant mothers as well as the indigent in rural communities.
