Governor Sule Approves N500m For Health Insurance Scheme

Nasarawa State governor Abdullahi Sule has approved N500 million as the counterpart payment for 2024 to the State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA).

This was disclosed by the commissioner for health, Dr Gaza Gwamna, during the flag off of enrolment exercise for judiciary staff yesterday in Lafia.

He said out of the fund, N250 million has already been released to the agency in a bid to ensure that enrollees have unhindered access to healthcare services in all facilities in the state.

He said the balance of the approved sum will soon be released.

LEADERSHIP reports that the state government had in 2019 initiated the scheme with the aim of providing quality and affordable health services to the people.

The agency’s top official disclosed that as at the end of September, 2023, 188, 300 residents had enrolled in the scheme and were benefiting from healthcare services from various medical facilities across the state.

The beneficiaries, it was gathered, were registered under different packages such as public sector, informal sector, vulnerable and students among others.

Gwamna said only three per cent were still being deducted from the salaries of civil servants in the state to add to the counterpart payment by the state government.

“Despite the increase in the course of healthcare services, only three per cent is still being deducted for the insurance scheme because of the government’s commitment to the health of the people,” he stated.

He commended Justice Aisha Bashir, Chief Judge (CJ) of Nasarawa State, Jimoh Musa, State Chairman, Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) for making the enrolment of judiciary staff a reality after many years of struggle.

He called on civil servants and other enrollees of the scheme to report poor services to the government to enable them tackle them.

Also, the executive secretary (ES) of NASHIA, Dr Yahaya Ubam, said over 87 per cent of civil servants in the state were already benefiting from the scheme.

He said that the agency was doing everything possible to ensure that the remaining civil servants were captured, noting the scheme is mandatory for all civil servants.

He called on individuals and groups as well as politicians to register indigent people in their areas in order to complement the effort of the government toward ensuring attainment of universal health coverage.