Reprieve as FCTA flags off medical palliative scheme for Abuja residents

Stories By Stanley Onyekwere

In furtherance to interventions aimed at ameliorating the prevailing hardship, the FCT Administration through its FCT Health Services and Environment Secretariat (HSES) yestetday commenced disbursement of medical palliative to patients and other vulnerable  residents of the territory.

In particular, patients at the Gwarinpa hospital received free treatment and drugs from  the medical palliative team, just as those in need of surgery, are expected to be booked for such procedure, which will be paid for by the health insurance scheme.

Also, part of the medical palliative package is distribution of delivery kits and one year free antenatal care for all pregnant women in the FCT, after enrollment into FCT Health Insurance Scheme.

Speaking during the scheme’s official flag off at the Gwarinpa General Hospital, HSES Mandate Secretary, Dr. Adedolapo Fasawe, who led medical experts, who rendered free healthcare services to patients in the facility, described the scheme as a quick stop-gap for the prevailing difficult  situation.

Fasawe, said the initiative was pursuant to a memo to Barrister Nyesom Wike (FCT Minister)  to approve the concept of medical palliative, as they were able to convince him that the health insurance scheme for the vulnerable, from a percentage of the country’s national budget can support the government in delivering the medical palliative scheme.

She explained that he reason behind the medical palliative was that the secretariat  had started to realise that a lot of  its patients are coming in sick, because of limited resources for competing demands.

She said: “It is not news to us that Nigeria is going through tough period right now. But, we have a government that is not ignorant of this. We have a government that it is not pretending not to see what is going on. We have been giving out food palliative. And palliative simply means that we are ameliorating the situation or a quick stop-gap before the whole problem is universally solved.

“What we have done here is a proof that this can work, it is sustainable and something that has come to stay.

“The scheme is that it will encourage people to register on our health insurance scheme, and those who on it will get drugs, test and care for free on another day when the medical palliative is taken to a given centre.

Today, our medical palliative  team came to the Gwarinpa General Hospital, every single treatment is free even the laboratory test that would be carried, and for those on admission in the ward  their drugs will be free. Also those that need surgery, we would book them and it will be carried out, and this will be paid for the health insurance scheme. And you can only benefit from this, is you register onto the FCT Health Insurance Scheme, which is a scheme whereby a family of four will pay a certain amount, and they will get healthcare for the rest of the year.

“When we came into government, we had only about a hundred and four thousand of people who registered, but I’m happy today that we have over 180,000 patients registered on this  scheme. This is a very big leap.

“We cannot be able to this everyday, but if we you enough medicine to last you for two months, you will save the money that you used to pay for your drugs and others medical care.”

Also speaking, Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare of Nigeria, Muhammad Ali Pate, who graced the occasion described the initiative as critical to reducing the medical burden on residents of the Territory, which explains why its decision to partner with FCT Administration to make it impactful.

Pate therefore urged sub national governments to emulate the FCT, so as to spread such laudable relief initiative across the country.

He reiterated the federal government’s committment to leverage on such remedial  initiatives to escalate delivery of healthcare services to citizens especailly the vulnerable ones.

Meanwhile, most of the beneficiaries, who described the initiative as a time intervention to the mitigate their plights due to the current economy realities in the society, expressed gratitude to the FCT Administration for keying into the renewed hope agenda of the President Bola Tinubu’s administration.