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Gombe State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru (middle) flanked by other dignitaries at the press briefing.
By Akanji Alowolodu, Gombe
After a long time of discussions, Gombe State Government and the organized labour in the state have come to terms on the need for the implementation of the State Basic Health Contributory Scheme for both organized and the informal sector.
The two bodies after a meeting held in the office of the Secretary to the Gombe State Government (SSG), Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi, who stood in for the State Government, the State NLC Secretary, Shuaibu Ciroma and Chairman TUC, Isah Abubakar, unanimously agreed to fix September 1st, 2021 for the commencement of the scheme.
While Briefing newsmen after the meeting, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Habu Dahiru, said that the parties all agreed that the Government and individual beneficiaries will both contribute seven percent of their earnings on the ratio of 3.5 % for the individual and 3.5% from the Government.
He also said that the State Governor, Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, graciously approved the programme as one of Government’s efforts in improving the health of the people through easy access to basic health care.
He added however that the scheme would not involve Local Government and Local Education Authority workers for now as their minimum wage issue has not been resolved yet.
Shedding more lights on the development, the Executive Secretary of the Gombe Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (GoHealth), Dr. Abubakar Musa, said that the scheme is structured to accommodate the organized private sector as well as the informal sector such as petty traders.
He added that the State is ready for the programme in terms of the provision of drugs, manpower and other facilities, more so, that the 114 Primary Health Care Centres PHC’s in the State have been given a clean bill by a delegation from the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The NHIS had also recommended an improvement in manpower and the State Government said it had already responded by deploying no fewer than 40 midwives to all the 114 PHC’s to fill the gap.
“The State Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHCDA) is planning to conduct recruitment to replace those who have retired and those who have died. A memo has been raised to that effect”, Dr. Abubakar Musa stated.
The scheme is expected to cover the treatment expenses of an individual, his wife and four children of “common illnesses” such as road traffic accidents, malaria, caesarian section, typhoid, meningitis among many others.
The organized private sector as well as the informal sector, like the petty traders who wish to enroll are expected to register with the GoHealth on the bases of the contribution of 3.5% of the individual’s earnings or salary while the State Government will pay the other 3.5% of the contribution.
Already, GoHealth says it had registered no fewer than 25,000 individuals under the informal sector.
In their separate remarks, the State NLC Secretary, Shuaibu Chiroma and the TUC Chairman both commended the State Government’s initiative.
According to the NLC Secretary “The organised labour has reached agreement on the Contributory health insurance scheme in the state. Based on that, it calls for today’s meeting because we have consulted at our own level, even those that are not in organised labour have come to understand that the scheme is a good one considering the fact that health is wealth”.
