Edo State, Making the Most Of Healthcare Through Health Insurance

by Nekpen Maureen Nwine

Generally, health insurance schemes are aimed at guaranteeing access to affordable and quality health care services in standardized health care centres with the beneficiaries, usually citizens of a locality, employees of Government MDA’s, as well as those of private establishments.

In a bid to ensure that the workforce gets access to quality healthcare services, Edo State Government rolled out its Health Insurance Scheme in the newly refurbished Primary Health Care Centres across the State. The scheme is funded from the Basic Primary Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF), Edo State Equity Contribution and contribution from enrollees, with mechanisms put up for the health care needs of the different strata of the population, while for those without means, the basic healthcare provision funds ensure they get a minimum package of healthcare without having to pay anything. All these are made available in well assessed, standardized hospitals and health care centres. Indeed, this is one of the best things that ever happened to Edo people!

Originally misconstrued as benefitting only the workforce, the ‘Wake and See Governor’ saw the need for the entire populace to access the improved healthcare delivery and threw it open to all, with the aim of decentralizing health care services, enabling the people to maximize health care opportunities.

There is no well meaning government who has the interest of its people at heart , that will not be pained, seeing its citizens clustered and suffering in a bid to accessing health care.

Civilization has gone beyond centralized health care delivery which gives room to impatient and insensitive treatment of health care seekers by overworked health care providers, as well as the extortion of privileged health care seekers by private health care providers. To mitigate this, the Governor Obaseki-led administration came up with the Health Insurance Scheme, for the sole purpose of decentralizing health care and making it easy and affordable.

The market woman/man only needs to contribute #50: 00 (Fifty Naira) daily as an enrollee to benefit from the scheme. It is noteworthy that quality healthcare service is not cheap, hence, it has become pertinent that we all embrace the initiative to access quality healthcare for ourselves and loved ones.

Hoping to achieve universal health coverage in the State, Governor Obaseki has improved healthcare access through investment in facilities and equipment, training of personnel and digitalizing the health care service. It now behooves on the people to make the scheme efficient and sustainable by acceptability and active participation.

As a government has duties and responsibilities to its citizens, so the citizens have obligations towards its government in order to help it succeed. A Governor that caters and cares about the welfare of its citizens enough to cover them in health insurance, deserves support. Identifying with such good intents is a way of showing solidarity towards Government’s initiatives. The call therefore, is for the generality of the people to collaborate with Edo State Government in its attempt to improve the social and economic wellbeing of the people.

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