The Ebonyi Government says it has earmarked N100 million counterpart fund for the state health insurance scheme for civil servants.
Mrs Mary-Rose Egwu, the Executive Secretary, Ebonyi State Health Insurance Agency (EBSHIA), said this on Wednesday in Abakaliki during an advocacy/sensitisation meeting with the organised labour and other stakeholders in the health sector.
The meeting was organised by the state, in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development and Integrated Health Programme.
Egwu said that Gov. Dave Umahi, was committed to providing basic healthcare for residents of the state.
She said that no fewer than 14,534 enrollees from the informal sector had been captured for the scheme, which was launched in 2018.
“The Ebonyi health insurance scheme is a social health insurance programme aimed at achieving the universal health coverage through the provision of access to quality healthcare services.
“The Ebonyi Health Agency Law, which established the scheme, was passed in 2018 with the mandate to raise financial resources that will enable citizens to have access to quality healthcare delivery.
“We have started taking care of those in the informal sector, especially the indigent and vulnerable persons.
“The governor is passionate about achieving the universal health coverage and the success of the health insurance programme in the state,” Egwu said.
She said the enrollees from the informal sector paid an annual premium of N12,000 or N1,000 monthly.
She also said that civil servants would pay five per cent of their basic salary or 17 per cent consolidated salary.
“When an enrollee pays premium, he or she chooses a health facility of his choice from the agency’s list of accredited health facilities after being captured,” she said.
Egwu further said that the programme was open for people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds.
The EBSHIA boss, therefore, urged the leadership of the organised labour to convince their members to enroll for the scheme in order to enjoy the benefits.
Earlier, the representative of the USAID-IHP, Mrs Chidinma Eneze, said that universal healthcare was all about inclusive healthcare provision, which allows individuals to access quality health service without suffering financial stress.
In a keynote speech, Eneze said that EBSHIA had been repositioned to assist the government to actualise the UHC programme, which included a range of essential health services from healthcare promotion to prevention, among others.
In a goodwill message, the state Chairman of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr Leonard Nkah, commended Egwu for repositioning the agency.
He expressed the readiness of labour to persuade workers to buy into the scheme, like some states where the programme had taken off.
“From the presentation today we are satisfied with what the agency has achieved.
“We are going to take the message home to our members,” Nkah said.