The Ogun Government says it is working toward engaging students of tertiary institutions on the need to key into its health insurance scheme.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, disclosed this on Thursday at the activation meeting with stakeholders on the ‘Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Programme (TISHIP)’, in Abeokuta.

The meeting was co-hosted by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu.

Ms Coker said that the move was to ensure that the students did not go through the stress of using their funds to access quality healthcare in the state.

The meeting had in attendance, Heads of tertiary institutions, both government-owned and private-owned, Deans of Students Affairs and representatives of the Student Union Government (SUG).

Ms Coker said that the undergraduates were important aspect of the scheme, “who incidentally have not been benefitting from it.”

She said that the present administration in the state had invested heavily in healthcare across the three tiers of the sector.

The commissioner said that incorporating the students would enable them benefit from the scheme both on-campus and off-campus at any time of the day or night.

Ms Coker said that the government had since engaged artisans, market men and women, as well as Community Development Associations (CDAs), among others, in a bid to promote the drive toward achieving universal health coverage.

According to her, the Gov. Dapo Abiodun-led government is making efforts to build a solid foundation for the health sector which unborn generations will benefit from.

“I want to plead with you to come up with ideas and suggestions that will enhance the workability of this TISHIP. If our undergraduates are on board, we will have little or no cause to worry during any health emergency.

“The scheme has been designed to allow for referral, from the primary to secondary and tertiary levels of care.

“Any student of Ogun state does not have to pay out-of-pocket to access quality healthcare considering that the governor has provided equipment, good infrastructure and human resource for health, which are not always available to students,” she said.

On his part, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Arigbabu, said that the initiative would ensure that students of tertiary institutions were properly taken care of both on campus and off campus in case of any emergency.

Mr Arigbabu said that the activation meeting was meant to sensitise the Heads of tertiary institutions and the leaders of the students’ union to seek their consent.

He said that the entire population of students of each school of higher learning could be better educated by the attendees of the meeting on the benefits of the scheme.

In his lecture, the Executive Secretary of the Ogun State Health Insurance Agency (OGSHIA), Dr Afolabi Dosumu, expressed optimism that the scheme had come to stay in Ogun, ‘’as it is backed by an Act of Parliament.’’

He assured that keying into the initiative was the way to secure access to quality healthcare.

The health insurance scheme for informal sector and the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund (BHCPF) were launched in February by Gov.Abiodun.

(NAN)