The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has pledged to increase access to affordable healthcare for the people of Taraba State and Nigerians in general. The assurance was given during the flag-off of the state’s formal sector health plan and the commencement of care access for over 26,000 people who have enrolled for the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) in Jalingo, the state capital.
Professor Mohammed Nasir Sambo, the Director General of NHIA, speaking through the Northeast zonal coordinator, Dabo Abdullahi, urged the Taraba State government to support the State Contributory Health Insurance Agency so that it can carry out its formal and informal sector schemes successfully through the creation of a sustainable and robust pool of funds for effective cross-subsidisation. According to Sambo, cross-subsidisation is one of the cardinal principles of social health insurance.
The DHMI recommended that the NHIA and the State Ministry of Health ensure that the budgetary arrangement for NHIA’s equity fund and 25% BHCPF counterpart fund is included in the state’s budget every year to ensure optimal uptake and patronage of the access-to-care program.
The state governor, Darius Dickson Ishaku, represented by the Commissioner of Health, Dr Innocent Vakkai, expressed his regret over the state of the health facilities when he assumed office in 2015 and expressed his administration’s desire to improve them. The governor stated that since his government came on board, it has created strategies for empowering the state’s citizens to improve their health and get out of poverty. One of such strategies was the establishment of the State Social Health Insurance Agency.
The governor was confident that the creation of the agency would bring about positive developments for the residents of Taraba State.
