The Director General of the Edo Health Insurance Scheme (EdoHIS), Mrs. Augusta Ikpea-Enaholo, has called for heightened monitoring of primary health care centers to improve access for the state health insurance scheme enrollees.
Ikpea-Enaholo made the call during a three-day meeting held over the weekend with medical health workers (MOHs) from the state’s three senatorial districts.
She stressed that Governor Monday Okpebholo is fully committed to the well-being of Edo residents, working tirelessly to revive PHCs abandoned by the previous administration.
Ikpea-Enaholo, recently appointed as the scheme’s Director General, highlighted the importance of the meeting, which was convened to address the challenges faced by medical officers and the health insurance scheme in the PHCs.
She urged them to ensure the effective implementation of health policies, supervise health personnel, monitor service delivery, and drive improvements in health outcomes in alignment with state and national health policies.
The medical officers in attendance voiced concerns about inadequate manpower, leaking roofs, and the negative attitude of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital toward EdoHIS enrollees.
These issues, according to the officers, were discouraging patients from utilizing the scheme, making it crucial to resolve these challenges promptly.
In response to the concerns raised, Ikpea-Enaholo directed the implementation of a regular monitoring and evaluation system to assess the performance of PHCs and the effectiveness of the EdoHIS.
She also promised to ensure that all challenges raised were addressed to strengthen the functionality and effectiveness of all the PHCs and the EdoHIS.
Ikpea-Enaholo, however, called on the medical officers to foster collaboration with traditional, religious, and community leaders to improve health-seeking behaviors.
The Director General further explained that the medical officers would henceforth be evaluated based on performance indicators like timely approval of the business plan and the number of supervisory visits conducted.
She also added that they would be evaluated based on the percentage of PHCs achieving at least 15 percent service utilization and the implementation of a facility improvement plan.
