Bauchi urged to use part of N5bn subsidy palliatives to enroll vulnerable people into health insurance scheme

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By Akanji Alowoludo, Bauchi

Bauchi State Government has been called upon to as a matter of necessity, use part of the N5b fuel subsidy removal palliatives allocated to it by the federal government to enroll vulnerable members of the society into the state’s health insurance scheme.

Bauchi is currently implementing health insurance scheme under the Bauchi State Health Contributory Management Agency (BASHCMA) to reduce out of pocket expenditure on medication by the people.

The call was made by the Health Financing Advisor of USAID’s Integrated Health Program (USAID IHP), Bauchi, Pharmacist Khalid Kasimu during a one-day media quarterly meeting of Journalists for Public Health Development Initiative (J4PD) held at the Hazibal Hotel Bauchi. 

He said that giving out only rice and some items to the vulnerable people will only take them one or two days.

“The palliative for fuel subsidy removal allocated to each state has been published, I am sure if you check the dailies that information is there, how much each state got is there”, he said.

According to him, “What we are advocating for Bauchi state is that they can do things differently.”

Pharmacist Kasimu while reasoning that the issue of healthcare which consumes most of the incomes of the vulnerable people, advised that they should be given the priority attention.

He added; “once you are able to enroll them they will have access to quality healthcare, use twelve thousand Naira per individual to register them on the contributory health care scheme in the state”.

Pharmacist Kasimu further explained, by enrolling them, they will have the privilege to access quality healthcare for a whole year which will reduce the effect of health care expenditure that is pushing them into poverty.

The Health Financing Advisor who pointed out that the vulnerables are the worst affected by the fuel subsidy removal among Nigerians, said that they currently pay more for everything that they are doing.

According to him, the vulnerable people pay double or three times of what they would have paid if they were enrolled into the state Government’s health contributory scheme.

Pharmacist Kasimu further explained that healthcare has been one of the issues that vulnerable members of the society have been battling to address.

“If you give them access to healthcare in addition to the other items for one year, that will really go a long way for the whole year, they will continue to be happy with this administration and testify that the palliative really helped them because they are able to access health care without paying for it”, he stated.

The Pharmacist while noting that the cost for the enrollment into Bauchi health insurance scheme is just twelve thousand Naira, advised that the government target the number of people it wants to target and allocate the funds to the state Health insurance agency to enroll them.

He said, if enrolled, the beneficiaries would have access to health services for a year without really paying for health expenditure at the point of service.

Earlier in her welcoming remarks, Mrs Elizabeth Cah, the Coordinator of J4PD said that the meeting was going to accord journalists more knowledge of how to track budget implementation with a view to improving spendings in the health sector.