854 vulnerable persons, including pregnant women, elderly people, children under the age of 5 years old, and the extreme poor in Oguta, Local Government Area, Imo State, have received the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund [BHCPF] Health Insurance Program Unique Access Identification Cards (UAIC), which they will use to access free medical care.
The beneficiaries, who are drawn from the 11 INEC Wards in Oguta LGA, have been accessing free medical care since April 2023, having been enrolled into the insurance scheme by the health workers who were supervised by the Oguta LGA Liaison Officer from Imo State Health Insurance Agency. The health insurance program is implemented in 305 INEC wards across the 27 LGAs of Imo State.
Handing over the BHCPF Unique Access Identification Cards to the beneficiaries through the Health Officers in charge of the Primary Healthcare Centres in the 11 INEC Wards in Oguta who enrolled them for thorough distribution, the Imo State Health Insurance Agency Liaison Officer for Oguta LGA on the BHCPF Health Insurance Program noted that the programme is fully funded with the support of the Imo State Government and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, a financial mobilization source from consolidated revenue.
The Liaison Officer stated that the Imo State Health Insurance Agency is doing four health programs: the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund, the Formal Sector,Tertiary Institution Social Health Insurance Program [TSHIP]and ImoCare/Informal Sector Health Insurance Programs.
He stressed that 66,003 persons were enrolled in the first batch while 18,900 persons will be enrolled in the BHCPF Enrollment 2.0/second batch of the Health Insurance programme, which he said has already begun.
“From April 2023 till date, about 85,912 vulnerable persons have visited our facility to access free Medical care. The programme has been impacting lives, which is a huge success” he said.
The INSHIA Laison Officer stressed that the agency is “empaneling about 37,323 Imo civil servants in the formal sector. It is one of the four Health Insurance programs we do at the Imo State Health Insurance Agency.
He continued “Very soon, they will start accessing healthcare too from October 2023. The agency is result driven,ensures value for money through strategic health purchasing and is committed to investing hugely in health to ensure that the extremely poor people access free quality healthcare in the state,reduce out of pocket expenditures on healthcare services and give financial risk protection on health care service costs to Imo residents”.
“The Executive Secretary of Imo State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Uchenna Ewelike Ph.D, has been wonderful and painstaking as he works in tandem with the Governor of Imo State, His Excellency, Hope Uzodimma, in seeing that the less privileged in the state gain easy access to affordable and quality healthcare services without paying a token”he explained
Charging the PHC Officers in Charge[OICs] of the enrollment and distribution of the Unique Access Identification Cards to ensure even distribution to the 854 enrollees, Director of Administration and General Services (DAGS) of Oguta LGA, Mr Victor Ayozie, who stood in for the Sole Administrator of the Council, thanked Governor Hope Uzodimma and the Executive Secretary of Imo State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Uchenna Ewelike Ph.D, for the feat, which he said was the first of its kind in the state.