The Kebbi State Government says it is fully committed to fulfilling its part of the agreement made with the newly established Contributory Healthcare Management Agency to ease the cost of health services faced by indigent citizens in the state.
The Governor, Atiku Bagudu, made this known during the inauguration and flag-off of the formal sector enrolment exercise into the scheme on Tuesday.
He assured the agency, staff and stakeholders that the government would not fail in implementing all the commitments made towards the success of the scheme.
“I want to commend the management and staff of this agency for working hard and tirelessly to ensure the success of the scheme in the state and its general acceptability.
“The high cost of health service led to the inaccessibility of the service by low-income earners. Only the contributory health scheme can help to make health services equitable.
“Assisting each other is one of the fundamentals of our religion. Therefore, the high and top officers should try to subsidise the health insurance scheme so that lower-income earners can benefit from it.”
He noted that involving the formal sector in the scheme would bridge the gap between the poor and the rich as all citizens would be able to access health services at affordable rates and levels.
The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Babale Umar-Yauri, gave an assurance that the government would ensure that a large number of people benefit from the scheme.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Alhaji Jafar Muhammad, commended the state government for implementing the scheme in the state.
He stressed that the action of the present administration had started yielding good results as low-income earners can now access health services easily across the state.
The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of KECHEMA, Dr. Jafar Augie-Muhammad, said that the agency targeted over 534,000 people after inauguration of the informal and formal sectors with about 89,000 principals.
“About 89,000 principals so far; before, it was 87,000 before the enrollment of principals. Under the state government, we have 21,337 civil servants from Universal Basic Education, and 21 Local Government Areas, we have 22,000 above and 23,000 above civil servants.
“If you add them up, we have 89,000 civil servants that are principals. When you multiply the figure by six, you will see that KECHEMA will be having over 534,000,” he said.
The Acting Head of Service, Alhaji Safiyanu Garba-Bena, said the benefits of the scheme to civil servants are enormous ranging from quality health services delivery to accessible healthcare across the state.
He stressed that the scheme would put an end to high blood pressure, which is common among civil servants by ensuring that they go for regular medical checkup.
Speaking on behalf of traditional rulers, Alhaji Ibrahim Bashar, commended the state government and KECHEMA for introducing the scheme to the state.
