By; ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna
The Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) has said that a total of 298,022 persons have accessed various health services under its health insurance scheme from January to date.
Mr Suleiman Mustapha, Head of Administration and Finance, KADCHMA, stated this in Kaduna on Monday, at a one-day meeting to review progress, challenges and develop an action plan to scale up enrolment into the health scheme.
The meeting was organised by the Kaduna Maternal Accountability Mechanism (KADMAM) in collaboration with Ward Development Committee and KADCHMA, with support from Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn (PERL).
According to Mustapha, the figure shows a significant improvement in the number of persons accessing health services when compared to the 379,450 persons that accessed the services in 2021.
He said that the 298,022 who accessed the services were out of the 508,559 total people currently enrolled in the schemes.
Mustapha, explained that of the total figure, 376,668 were enrolled under the formal sector, 6,296 under the informal sector, 79,329 under the vulnerable population and 741 under the Tertiary Students Health Insurance programme.
He noted that 45,529 poor and vulnerable were enrolled under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.
According to him, KADCHMA, Third Party Administrators and other partners are working hard to ensure that more persons were captured into the scheme under the informal sector.
Mr, Mustapha Jumare, Co-Chair, KADMAM, stressed the need to increase enrolment of the informal sector to reduce out of pocket expenditure on healthcare services.
Jumare said that as an accountability mechanism, KADMAM would continue to advocate to the government to ensure that the quality services were being provided in accredited facilities across the state.
He said that the meeting provided an opportunity to develop strategy to improve the enrolment into the scheme.
“We will continue to work both with KADCHMA to sensitize and mobilise citizens to register with the scheme to reduce out of pocket expenditure,” he said.
Earlier, State Team Lead of PERL, Adejor Abel said that the meeting was organised to review achievements recorded from January 2021 to date, identify challenges and develop an action plan to address them.
Abel said that PERL would continue to provide adequate support to ensure that more persons were enrolled under the informal sector to access basic healthcare.
Mr Isa Gidado, Secretary, KADMAM, said that the objective of the meeting was to review progress on beneficiaries’ enrolment and service uptake, and strengthen collaboration with relevant partners.
Gidado added that the meeting was also to discuss strategies to enrol more women and other excluded groups into the health scheme to reduce out of pocket expenditure.
Mr Muazu Habibu, State Team Lead, Layifa, an FCDO-funded health programme, also pledged continued support to KADCHMA to improve enrolment and quality of service delivery.
Habibu said that Lafiya has concluded plans to support KADCHMA to develop a 10-year strategic plan, and domestication of the National Health Insurance Authority framework currently being developed.
