The Director-General/Chief Executive Officer of the Delta State Contributory Health Commission, Dr Isaac Akpoveta, has disclosed the State Government subsidises over 300 caesarian sections monthly in all its 550 facilities.
Akpoveta said this when the officials and members of the Correspondents Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Delta Council, visited him in his office in Asaba on Wednesday.
He said that the state was leading in the contributory health insurance scheme in the country with the current enrollment figure of at least two million persons across the nook and cranny of the state.
According to him, the state subsidises the healthcare of pregnant women and children under age five free at a cost running into millions.
“These services are some of the silent efforts of the State Government that are not noticed,” Akpoveta said, adding that only the media as agents of development could highlight them.
He said that the commission was created by law in 2016 during Dr Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration.
He said that the commission began to see patients in January 2017, adding that between then and now, the commission had enrolled over 35 per cent of the residents in the scheme.
“Delta is No. 1 in every parameter of health insurance in the country.
“Asaba Specialist Hospital alone covers over 60 to 70 caesarian sections monthly.
“The scheme by law has plans – the equity plan is for the vulnerable, the formal plan is for the civil servants and the organised private sector, while the informal plan is for the artisans,” Akpoveta said.
He said that the commission was primarily set up to finance the health sector.
“With N7,000 premium, an enrollee will have access to healthcare in any facility in the state and those designated outside the state for one year.
“The commission is set up to cover the residents of Delta from financial constraints.
“Today, many have been pulled into poverty because of health bills.
“People sell land and properties to pay health bills and secure their health, so health insurance is to prevent financial disaster and protect the individual from financial constraints.
“The scheme is to cover all residents of Delta, irrespective of tribe, language or colour, religion or culture but all that live in the state should be covered.
“The scheme is law and mandatory for all residents in the state.
“Especially, the state is determined to protect the vulnerable people, particularly pregnant women and children under five and Persons with Disabilities.
“I am glad that you mentioned that the yearly premium of N7,000 for the health insurance is small compared to the huge cost of accessing medical care but this is possible because the government has been subsidising the cost,”
Akpoveta said.
He further said that in 2016, when the accrual determination of how much should cover an individual healthcare in a year was carried out, “it was put at about N18,000 per enrollee”.
He said that the cost of health servicing would have been higher now, given the inflationary trend but the State Government believed in taking care of its people.
He called on well-meaning people of the state to support the scheme by enrolling indigent members of their communities in the scheme.
Earlier, the chapel Chairman, Mr Ifeanyi Olannye of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), lauded the government for its commitment to providing quality healthcare at a considerable cost to residents.
Olannye described N7,000 annual premium for medical services as an economic rent (gain) for the enrollees, considering the current economic reality.
He congratulated Akpoveta for “a well-deserved appointment” and lauded his passion for the job, particularly for enrolling students of the state-owned tertiary institutions in the scheme.
“You personally sponsored and enrolled 1,000 indigent persons in remote communities and other persons with disabilities in the scheme from across the state.
“Your passion to save lives and ensure a healthy living among residents of the state is in line with Gov. Sheriff Oborevwori’s M.O.R.E Agenda,” he said.
The commission’s boss later took the journalists on a tour of some facilities to showcase the automated system provided by the government to drive an efficient healthcare system in the state.
He also sponsored the enrollment of some members of the chapel in the scheme.