Delta State government, on Tuesday, said it will sanction any officer found culpable in collecting money from pregnant women and children under- five years in any state hospitals beginning January 2026.

The director-general, Delta State Contributory Health Commission, Isaac Akpoveta, delivered the warning at a press conference in Asaba.

He said the action became necessary to checkmate doctors and health officers who subject pregnant women and children under-five years to all manners of payments before accessing healthcare from government hospitals and health centres across the state.

He said the new government policy will ensure more and better health care for the people, adding that treatment for all pregnant women from inception to delivery, including caesarian and children aged below five is free.

Mr Akpoveta said that Governor Sheriff Oborevwori had instructed that all the medical doctors and Officers In-charge of the State Hospitals and Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) be trained on the new policy of no charges for pregnant women and the under-five -years children in all the facilities in the state.

He said that the state government under the administration of Mr Oborevwori has promised to give more to save lives, adding that maternal and child mortality has drastically dropped in the state.

He said that the state government, through the State Contributory Health Commission, has deployed Information Communication Technology (ICT) based monitoring system being the first in the country to effectively monitor the system for accountability and transparency to ensure that enrollees.

According to Mr Akpoveta, the commission has designed an award scheme to reward every facility that has performed creditably as well as sanctions for erring officers for collecting money from the enrollees of the Contributory Health insurance scheme beginning next year.

“So, as part of the state government policy to ensure effective healthcare delivery, Gov Oborevwori approved the release of over N3.5 billion for the scheme this year.

“However, to achieve Universal Health Coverage in the state, we appeal for funding support from wealthy and private individual organisations and institutions as the government alone cannot provide the healthcare needs of all the citizens.

“These private institutions and individuals can buy health insurance for the vulnerable and less privileged and the needy relatives and members of their associations, church, mosque and community for as low as N7,000 premium per year for an individual member”.

The commission’s DG said that since the establishment of the commission in January 2017 the enrolment figure has moved from 1.3 million to over 2.7 million enrollees as at December this year.

According to Mr Akpoveta, the Delta Health Insurance Scheme remained number one in Nigeria and with over 350 agents registering enrollees daily from across the nooks and cranny of the state, the number is rising daily.

“So, every three months, the commission trains doctors and health officers on the new policy of the government and particularly that treatment for pregnant women is free.

“Also, babies born in our facilities also enjoy free healthcare until they attain age five, the elderly and vulnerable persons (physically Challenged) receive free treatment”.

He said that all enrollees of the State Health Insurance Scheme were not to pay a dime to access treatment in any state facility as long as they were covered by the scheme.

He noted that the commission has deployed ICT to capture enrollees through facial identification to ensure the right persons were treated in any of its facilities for transparency and accountability.

Mr Akpoveta said all medical bills and medications given to patients are transmitted to the commission electronically immediately from each facility.

According to the DG, the commission monitors the entire process from over 530 state and private health insurance units across the state and other states in the country.

“So, in 2026, we want to ensure that we have funds to manage what we have now and to reduce to about 80 per cent of the disease burden like typhoid, malaria and those areas covered by the scheme across the state”.

In a reaction, one of the trainees,Ifeoma Ekpo, an officer in-charge of PHC in Ika North Local Government of the state, said that the training has exposed them to the new policy of government on free healthcare for pregnant women and children under- five years.

She pledged on behalf of other officers to abide by the rules and not to demand payment from the pregnant women and children under- five plus those enrolled in the health insurance scheme. 

(NAN)