Why Kaduna created Health Insurance Scheme -Deputy Gov
Kaduna State has enrolled more than 400,000 people on the Health Insurance Scheme as it has registered 391,254 persons in the formal sector, 681 in the informal sector and 12,454 vulnerable persons in the last one year.
The Deputy Governor, Dr Hadiza Balarabe who spoke at the End of the Project Dissemination Event—Demand Side Financing(DSF) Project on Monday, said that Kaduna state has widened access to basic health care for the people.
She said that Kaduna State has sustainably maintained increased funding for the education and health sectors and has designed policies to ensure equitable access to health care for all residents of the State.
Dr Balarabe who was represented by Special Adviser on Human Capital, Alhaji Sagir Balarabe, further said the insurance scheme ‘’is being managed by the Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA).’’
According to her, the government created Kaduna Contributory Health Insurance Scheme ‘’to demonstrate our resolve in removing financial inhibition to accessing health care for all our people.’’
The Deputy Governor recalled that last Monday she ‘’flagged off the identification and enrolment exercise for the commencement of Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) Program in the State.’’
Dr Balarabe said the flag off ‘’further shows the progress made in keeping our commitment towards increasing access to Basic Minimum Health Care Services for all residents towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC).’’
The Deputy Governor added that BHCPF has further expanded the gateway for 40,000 vulnerable persons who are within the target groups, especially children under the age of five, pregnant women, the elderly and people living with disabilities, to access healthcare.
‘’These recorded achievements demonstrate the gains of the Result for Development–Demand Side Financing Programme implemented in Kaduna State,’’ she said, adding that ‘’ we are committed to maintain this positive trajectory as a government that put our people first in our governance agenda.’’
Dr Balarabe thanked Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and all other development partners, for the sustained partnership and collaboration with Kaduna State Government.
In his remarks, the Director General of KADCHMA, Alhaji Aliyu Saidu said that the Authority has achieved 11% coverage in the last one year, adding that KADCHMA is now focused on optimizing the enrolment of persons in the informal sector.
‘’Given the sizable proportion of this sector relative to the total population of the state and their contribution to the economy, this is imperative if the state is to remain on course towards achieving Universal Health Coverage,’’ he added.
According to him, 80 per cent of the residents of Kaduna State still pay for health services at the point of care, adding that ‘’majority of these people live below $1 a day.’’
The Director General said that he assumed office without any template to work with as no state had established a Health Insurance Scheme as at the time KADCHMA was established.
According to him, the Development Partners merely pointed the way to go about the scheme but didn’t impose their ideas on KADCHMA and ‘’as at today, every staff at the Authority can tell you about Health Insurance, even the driver.’’
