Universal health: KADCHMA targets 160,000 enrollees from informal sectors

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

In its bid to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) is set to leverage the positive experiences of its formal enrollees to target 160,000 additional informal sector enrollees into the scheme.
The Director General of KADCHMA, Mr.Abubakar Hassan disclosed this while speaking at a one-day sensitization and orientation meeting with staff and management of Ministry, Department, and Agencies (MDAs) in Kaduna.
According to him, the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that out of all the factors that push people to poverty, health remains number one due to out-of-pocket spending.
He however, expressed displeasure at the rate at which out-of-pocket spending on health has affected the people of Kaduna State, adding that health is very important to the survival of any sector because when the Citizens of a State are healthy, progress is made.
He noted that the State and even the nation suffer poverty because a lot of Civil Servants spend their wages and salaries on treating one illness or the other without a guarantee of good healthcare while starving themselves of healthy foods.
The D.G. added that considering the various effects of out-of-pocket spending on Citizens, it has become necessary and compulsory for Nigerians to be enrolled in the Contributory Health Insurance Scheme to curb heavy spending on healthcare.
Hassan therefore advised that people should take advantage of the Health insurance scheme and not wait until an illness strikes before visiting the hospital but should ensure they go for checkups periodically to monitor changes in the body.
He also lamented that many people especially in the informal sectors are not aware of packages nor the opportunity KADCHMA is putting on their table to reduce out-of-pocket spending on health care.
He explained that a dialogue session with the staff of the Kaduna State government under the Kaduna State movement for closure and other sister Agencies is to communicate and sensitize the enrolees of KADCHMA and also to show the progress that has been made and to allow them to give us feedback of their experiences on the scheme in the last four years.
“This is going to be a continuous exercise, we are going to be moving from one institute to the other until we are blessed to do a full round of these experiences across the length and breadth of these institutions under Kaduna State”, he stated.
Hassan further opined that his Agency can also use the opportunity beyond just getting feedback from the formal sector enrollees to sensitize them about new products that are coming into the market and the opportunities that are available in terms of KADCHMA and also to give them an update in terms of progress reports.
“But specifically and most importantly, is the fact that KADCHMA is about leveraging the positive experiences of our formal enrolled to target 160,000 additional informal sectors enrolled into the scheme.
“ In the formal sector enrollees, we have the opportunity of adding up, for example, their domestic staff in general, into the scheme.”
“This will give us additional members as they also have other family members that they can bring into the scheme. But the major thing we are leveraging on is the positive experiences of the formal enrollees, that is government staff and this is in respect to both public and civil servants that are under the payroll of the government.
“So, we have started today with the first maiden engagement session at the Investment House and we will see this trend roll out in zoning other Ministries and the media. We are going to use the approach of leveraging the Heads of Admin and personnel of government but starting specifically with them.
“They are going to be the Ambassadors of ensuring that all our issues and new advancements are progressing continuously go through that platform so that they will also be able to report the different issues that our enrollees are facing, so that we can quickly act on them and take measures to mitigate it, because our leveraging point is the positive experiences of our staffs and KADCHMA will always be there to ensure they get the best of care that is available under the Kaduna State contributory Health Management Authority”, he said.
In her response, the Managing Director of Kaduna Industrial and Finance Limited (KIFC,) Hadiza Yahaya Hamza said the dialogue is timely because recently, they have received a series of complaints from staff, where some say, they visited a hospital and they’ve not been getting the required services.
She added that it’s an opportunity for the staff of the Agency and other Agencies to know their rights because some don’t know the packages that the KADCHMA scheme covers but now they do.
According to her: “So, when next they go to the hospital and they are told that this drug or service is not covered, they know what to do.
“We will let KADCHMA know that this is what is going on in the hospitals and they will do the needful.”