Cross River launches Health Insurance Scheme
Insurance
By Christian Njoku
Calabar May 28, 2018 (NAN) The government of Cross River has launched a Health Insurance Scheme to march the 2018 Children’s Day.
Gov. Ben Ayade said in Calabar on Monday that his administration chose the Children’s Day celebration for the launch because the focus of the scheme was on children
Ayade said the administration was determined to ensure that parents without money could access quality healthcare for their children in healthcare centres.
He said he was happy that the children were not of voting age and as such the administration could not be accused of trying to score a political point through the scheme.
The governor said the government was committed to providing quality healthcare for the people.
He said all National Assembly members from the state had given a commitment to provide insurance for 500 children in each political ward in their constituencies.
The governor also said that members of the state legislature were committed to providing health insurance for 500 children in each of their constituencies.
He said the state government would provide N200 million, while he would personally donate N50 million on behalf of his family to kick-start the scheme.
The Commissioner for Health, Inyang Asibong, said the administration had succeeded in bringing quality healthcare to the people.
“Citizens of the state would be able to get unlimited healthcare with a token against the figure we already have of every family spending at least N30,000 on healthcare every month,” she said.
Asibong said the state had 196 primary healthcare facilities, 18 general hospitals and 18 private hospitals for the commencement of the scheme.
She also said three mobile hospitals and three Ayade-care referral hospitals were on their way and Calapharm was 99 per cent completed to produce drugs.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Stella Odey, said Cross River was the only state that had set up a child rights commission.
She said everyone should support the eradication of violence against children because children’s rights were human rights.
“ In Africa, it takes the whole community to raise a child, that is why on this day, we call on parents, teachers and everyone to be involved in the job of nurturing these children”, she said.
The Chairman of the Health Insurance Scheme, Iyantu Ifene, acknowledged Cross River to be ahead of 14 states doing something about health insurance.
He said since the inception of the scheme in Nigeria, only three per cent of Nigerians had been covered and Cross River was taking the bull by the horn in ensuring quality coverage for its citizens.
Iyana said the scheme would ensure that no citizen of the state died because of the lack of money to access quality healthcare.
The theme for Children’s Day celebration was “Creating Safe Spaces for Children, Our Collective Responsibility’’. (NAN)
CBN/JCE
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Edited by Chukwudi Ekezie