FCTA flags off enrollment of pregnant women into insurance scheme

.Distributes 500 free safe delivery kits to pregnant women

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA )has flagged off the enrollment of all vulnerable pregnant women in the Federal capital into the Federal Capital Territory Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS).

The FCTA also distributed about 500 free safe delivery kits to over two hundred pregnant women.

Speaking at the ceremony yesterday in Abuja, Mandate Secretary of Health Services and Environment of the FCTA, Dolapo Fasawe, said that the distributing the safe delivery kits is to encourage pregnant women to register in the health insurance scheme.

Fasawe who explained that all the poor and vulnerable pregnant women in the FCT would be eligible for free registration, said , “Right now every pregnant woman in FCT who cannot afford to pay for health insurance is going to be registered under the vulnerable group and it’s us free of charge.

“Already in Abuja, antenatal care is free of charge, delivery is not free but the essence of today is even if you can not afford to pay for health insurance, there are indices to identify and verify the poor, that includes the community, the community leaders, the health facilities, among others and would be taken care of, even the baby being given birth would be taken care of for a year under the health insurance scheme”.

She stated that health insurance is a key focus of the Nyesom Wike administration, which is why it has been prioritized adding that the dedication to the health insurance scheme by the Minister aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda which emphasizes the administration’s commitment to ensuring that no pregnant woman dies due to childbirth complications.

According to her, “Health insured is health assured. It is an abomination for any pregnant woman to die due to childbirth complications.

“It is not only during delivery that women have complications, at times it occurs after delivery. It has been documented that there are post-natal infections that these pregnant women have that they don’t treat or come back toward the point of death and it leads to death.

“Now the insurance scheme covers antenatal care of the pregnant woman and it covers them during delivery.

“During delivery, we have added an innovation, the safe delivery kit having realized that there are many women who go to traditional birth attendants for example, they go to primary healthcare centers for delivery and these people use instruments that are not sterile but these packs here are absolutely sterile and the things inside protect the mother, the child and the caregiver

“The essence of this is to encourage pregnant women to register for health insurance, this pack ordinarily would cost about N50,000and the normal practice before now is when you come for delivery they would list everything in here and ask you to go and buy but now we are giving it out for free once you are registered on our health insurance scheme”.

In remarks, the Minister of State for FCT, Mariya Mahmoud who was represented by Dr. Abdullahi Kaura Mata noted that the number of FCT residents who are already registered for the health insurance is not yet substantial enough.

She commended the FCT Minister’s efforts in driving innovative programmes that will improve health conditions of the people,

The Minister of State charged the Mandate Secretary and her team to work on ascertaining the accurate statistics on the state of child mortality rates and maternal deaths in the FCT

She expressed satisfaction that with their enrollment into the scheme, the pregnant women will have access to quality healthcare services without any financial shock.

Mahmoud assured that funding for the free enrollees (the vulnerable) would not pose a challenge, also warned that FCT will not tolerate delay in the release of funds by Health Management Organizations (HMOs) and for other services to the hospitals capable of impacting the insurance scheme.

Frances Adewumi, the USAID IHP FCT State Director, acknowledged the long-awaited realization of the sensitization campaign on health insurance, emphasizing the project’s support for the Health Services and Environment Secretariat for over four years.

Highlighting the project’s goal of reducing maternal and child morbidity and mortality in the FCT, Frances mentioned USAID IHP’s contributions to the FCT through capacity building of health care workers, supply of state-of-the-art medical equipment and several health systems strengthening efforts to improve access to care and increase quality of care provided in FCT health care centres.

She encouraged FCT residents to embrace the FHIS and spread the word that with a premium payment of N13,500 every year, every woman, child and man can have access to good quality services.