The Director of Health Services, DHS, University of Calabar Medical Centre, Dr Kaiser William Ettah, has said that no fewer than 47,000 students of the institution are accessing free healthcare courtesy of the Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Programme (TISHIP) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
This was disclosed at the stakeholder meeting of the National Health Insurance Authority, Cross River State Office, with the theme ‘Universal Health Coverage: Everyone’s Business’.
Speaking at the meeting in Calabar, Dr Kaiser explained that health insurance aims to ensure that everyone has access to quality healthcare at affordable prices, regardless of their economic status.
On his part, NHIA South-South Zonal Director, Pharm. Nuhu Ajodi emphasised that the journey of NHIA is great progress, but everyone must be involved in accessing this healthcare while ensuring that all recommendations arising from the meeting will be conveyed to headquarters, where key decisions are taken.
According to him, “NHIA cannot sit in Abuja and say that it wants to enrol all Nigerians, so it has to come up with a decentralisation effort for states, whereby states themselves will sit on the driving seat to ensure that the implementation of health insurance is done collaboratively with NHIA.
“We have the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, through which the government targets the vulnerable, specifically mothers and children under five, in rural areas. As I speak, money is being channelled across the state’s insurance agencies to ensure that mothers and children enrol in health insurance to access free healthcare. It also covers issues of caesarean section at that level, and where the issue goes beyond primary healthcare, referral is allowed to secondary care, all with the aim of reducing infant and maternal mortality, he emphasised.
In a welcome address, the Cross River State Coordinator of NHIA, Mr Stanley Effah, observed that although universal health coverage is a global phenomenon, its effectiveness lies in getting everyone involved.
“The programme in Cross River State has been wonderful, but there are still some milestones to be achieved in terms of awareness, in terms of numbers, and in terms of satisfactory healthcare delivery, which lies on the enrollees to understand their rights, he said.
In a presentation titled ‘The Imperative of Elaborate and Satisfactory Healthcare Services in the Attainment of UHC’, Head, Programme Department, NHIA, Dr Michael Itam, outlined the challenges of satisfactory healthcare services including poor and almost non-existent primary healthcare systems, skewed and sparse distribution of healthcare providers and centres, a largely uninformed clientele’ population, prevailing economic realities, a dearth of qualified medical professionals and personnel, infrastructural decay, and inadequate private sector participation in unlocking new modalities for health financing and delivery.
Another keynote speaker at the meeting, Chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Cross River State Council, Comrade Nsa Gill, who gave a presentation on the topic, ‘Multi-sectorial and Strategic Media Advocacy for Health Insurance Programme in Cross River State’, opined that the ultimate objective of strategic media advocacy is to earn public trust while maintaining that proper application of multi-sectorial and strategic media advocacy can achieve the needed result to bring public acceptance and patronage of the National Health Insurance scheme.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
Jet crash: I’m in good spirits — Minister of Power, Adelabu
Minister of Power, Mr Adebayo Adelabu, on Saturday allayed fears about his safety following Friday’s incident near…
Senator Natasha pays condolence visit to family of late Ohinoyi
While addressing sympathisers at the Palace of the late Ohinoyi, in Okene, Sen. Akpoti-Uduaghan noted the former was…
Appeal Court sacks Senate Minority Whip, Nwokocha
Nwokocha, Tribune Online learned, represents Abia Central in the red chamber of the National Assembly on the platform of…
Why I was not part of Big Brother All Stars —Tobi Bakre
Former Big Brother Naija star, Tobi Bakre has said he didn’t regret not being part of the Big Brother Naija All Stars edition, noting that his…
What critics of Rufai Oseni don’t know about journalism
A viral, contentious dialogic confrontation between Arise TV’s Rufai Oseni and one Jesutega Onokpasa, identified as a lawyer and “APC chieftain,” on…
FULL LIST: Osimhen, Gift Orban bag nominations at 2023 CAF Awards
Super Eagles and Napoli forward, Victor Osimhen, has been nominated for the 2023 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Men Player of...
" it has become necessary to alter the Constitution to provide for a rotational presidency…
According to the Commission, the new template being subjected to further scrutiny and validation at…
“You don't need to stay on the road to board a bus or taxi, you…
"We have constructed 47 boreholes, providing clean water access to 40 communities of over 15,000…
"Through this partnership, Lagos State has further positioned itself as a leading gateway for Commonwealth…
Stakeholders in the fire management sector in Bauchi State have been engaged in discussions on…
This website uses cookies.