Rivers seek council’s support to enroll residents in insurance scheme

The Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP) is seeking the support of local government chairmen to enrol more lives in its health insurance scheme.

The programme’s Acting Executive Secretary, Dr. Vetty Agala, made the appeal during an advocacy visit to the Executive Chairman of Okrika Local Government Area, Achese Igwe.

Agala explained that the Federal Government, through the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), directed Rivers State to enrol only 68,874 lives under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).

However, Rivers State Governor, Siminialayi Fubara increased the number of beneficiaries to 100,000.

Despite this increase, Agala emphasized that the fund cannot cater to the health needs of all vulnerable people in the state, prompting the call for more resources to be pooled together.

The RIVCHPP boss urged local government councils, religious bodies, social groups, philanthropists, and well-meaning individuals to sponsor more lives on the health insurance scheme.

She said this would provide access to healthcare for those who cannot afford it, particularly pregnant women, children under five, people living with disabilities, and some HIV patients.

In response, the council chairman of the council, Igwe commended Agala’s efforts to improve universal health coverage in the state and praised Governor Fubara for making the health insurance scheme functional.

He pledged to develop modalities to bring more people from the area into the program and highlighted the need for functional health facilities to support the initiative.

Similarly, the RIVCHPP has been actively engaging with stakeholders to expand healthcare coverage in the state.

Recently, the programme’s management team met with the State Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Prince Charles Beke, to facilitate the enrollment of local government staff and community members.

The programme has also collaborated with organizations such as the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to achieve its goals.

However, Agala noted that: “with the support of local government chairmen and other stakeholders, the scheme aimed to provide healthcare access to more people in the State, particularly the vulnerable populations.