The Kaduna State government on Friday appealed to chairmen of the 23 local government councils to commit a fraction of their consolidated revenue fund for the state’s health insurance scheme.

The state deputy governor, Hadiza Balarabe, appealed via a virtual message in Abuja during a two-day meeting with the chairmen to find sustainable and innovative funding sources for healthcare services in the state.

Ms Balarabe said the measure would support the poor and vulnerable populations in the various local areas to access quality and affordable healthcare in their communities.

She explained that the plea if considered, would strengthen the state government’s resolve to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) through health insurance.

The deputy governor emphasised that a healthy population is central to building strong human capital for sustainable development.

She added that “the state government created the contributory health management scheme in 2018 to facilitate access to quality and affordable healthcare for residents of the state.

“Since the establishment of the scheme three years ago, available reports indicated some level of improvement in access to healthcare in primary health facilities in the state.”

The deputy governor said that more than 79,000 vulnerable groups, including women and children, have been impacted by the scheme.

She pointed out that the strength of the Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) lies in the formal sector, with 98 per cent coverage.

She, however, said that a sizable number of residents are not in the formal sector. According to her, this informed the need to find innovative ways to enrol a reasonable number of the informal sector into the scheme.

The Commissioner for Health, Umma Ahmad, said healthcare financing in Kaduna State involves a mix of government expenditure, household out-of-pocket expenditure, donor grants and contributions from various entities.

“However, more than 85 per cent of healthcare expenditure is provided by households, and in spite of legislative and policy reforms to address this, achieving UHC has remained a challenge.

“Health insurance coverage has remained low, with insignificant enrollment from the informal sector. This is one of our greatest challenges in health financing in the state,” she said.

On his part, KADCHMA’s head of administration and finance, Suleiman Mustapha, said Part III, section 10 of the law that established the scheme, made some provisions for local government councils.

Mr Mustapha explained that the law provided that the local councils provide access to effective, quality and affordable healthcare services and protect families from financial hardship from huge medical bills.

(NAN)