Cross River Records 38,680 Health Insurance Enrolments

At least 38,680 residents across Cross River State’s 18 Local Government Areas have enrolled in the State Health Insurance Scheme, out of a 150,000 target set for 2026.

The director – general, Cross River State Health Insurance Agency, Dr Godwin Iyala, disclosed the figures Friday in Calabar while giving an update on the agency’s activities over the past year.

Otala stated that the current enrolment follows the agency’s migration to the Basic Health Care Provision Fund 2.0, which “makes it compulsory for every enrollee to have a National Identification Number, NIN to keep track of Nigerians on the scheme.”

Because of the new requirement, Iyala explained that “all those who enrolled before the implementation but had no NIN had to be removed.” He added that the 38,680 figure “reflects only those who have NIN.”

“The beneficiaries were registered under different packages, including the public sector, informal sector, and vulnerable groups,” he maintained.

Iyala noted that “the agency is now moving into the Tertiary Institution Social Health Insurance Programme, TISHIP.”

According to him, enrollees are accessing medical services daily at 196 healthcare facilities spread across 196 electoral wards in the state.

CRSHIA has now digitalised all its processes “to ensure easy access to effective healthcare services for enrollees, which has so far improved efficiency and transparency,” Iyala said.

He urged healthcare providers “to be professional in their conduct and to give enrollees the desired services,” stating that such conduct would increase public confidence in the scheme.

The DG attributed the agency’s progress to support from Governor Bassey Otu and his wife, Bishop Eyoanwan Otu, who has been branded ambassador of the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency.

“I want to thank Her Excellency who is one of our biggest supporters, for single handedly paying for and enrolled 500 aged persons into our scheme,” he said.

Iyala listed challenges facing the agency, including “inadequate funding and logistics, lack of human resources, low number of enrollees due to no NIN among others.”

While commending individuals who had adopted and paid for indigent persons, he urged other citizens to emulate the gesture.

He assured that the agency would keep working toward universal health coverage, adding that “the 196 accredited facilities delivering services under the scheme are distributed across the 196 electoral wards of the 18 LGAs,” stressing that “digitisation has helped in reducing bottlenecks and allowed enrollees to interact with the system more seamlessly.