Zamfara Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (ZAMCHEMA) says it has captured more than 100,000 enrollees in its data base as the state’s health scheme takes-off this Feb.
The scheme is geared towards providing quality and affordable healthcare services to the people in the state.
Executive Secretary of the agency Dr. Yusuf Abubakar, made the disclosure in an interview on Monday.
He said, “Soon after the executive governor, Alhaji Bello Mohammed Matawalle inaugurated the agency on September 1, 2020, we mobilised into action even as we had initial take-off logistics issues.
“At the moment, we have met almost all the requirements of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency and we are fully ready to kick start with the formal sector which is made up of the state’s civil servants and local government workers.
“Under this category, we have enrolled about 70,000 beneficiaries,” he said.
Abubakar said that beneficiaries in the formal sector were contributing three per cent of their salary to the scheme to ensure its success and sustainability.
He pointed out that more than 30,000 beneficiaries had been enrolled from the non formal sector while arrangements are ongoing to capture more in the scheme.
According to him, the agency would use the United Nations Social Register to identify vulnerable persons in the society who would include children under five, women of child bearing age, persons with special needs, the aged as well as internally displaced victims of disasters such as banditry.
He further said that a planning meeting for the successful take-off of the scheme had already been held with stakeholders drawn from the state Ministries of Health, Finance and Budget and Planning as well as from the labour union.
The executive secretary who appreciated Gov. Matawalle for his support so far, also appealed to the state government to provide the agency with logistics and other resources for its smooth operations.