Akeredolu Flags-off Maternal and Child Health Insurance Scheme

In furtherance of his promise to improve all health indices and ensure qualitative health delivery, Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu,SAN, on Tuesday flagged-off the Maternal -And -Child Health Insurance Scheme (AMCHIS) and the State Contributory Health Scheme (ODCHS).

The Governor also declared that his administration will employ more Medical Doctors and Nurses and also upgrade the physical infrastructure of the seven designated Mother-and-Child friendly hospitals across the state.

Governor Akeredolu said both the Contributory Health Scheme and the Maternal and Child Health Insurance Scheme are evidence of his administration’s commitment to the Universal Health Coverage (UHC) with a consciousness of a sustainable framework of healthcare financing.

Governor Akeredolu, who performed the flag-off at the Mother and Child Hospital, Akure, said the State Executive Council, last year agreed and approved the payment of premium for the healthcare benefits of all under-5 children and pregnant women resident in the State to the Ondo State Contributory Health Commission’s pool.

He said the state is leading by example through the gesture to make contributions on behalf of pregnant women and under-5 children in order to ensure that maternal and under-5 children health services are free at the point of care.

The Governor noted that the Residency card (Kaadi Igbeayo) remains the prerequisite to benefit from the Maternal and Child Health insurance Scheme (AMCHIS).

He disclosed that the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) has positioned its officers at strategic locations in the seven designated Mother and Child-friendly Hospitals to register and issue the Residency Card to pregnant women free of charge.

Arakunrin Akeredolu said: "First, we have christened it the Health Insurance Scheme of Ondo State, pointing to the fact that a model of health insurance is adopted to drive and sustain the scheme.“Secondly, we have expanded the scope of providers from the two Mother-and-Child Hospitals in Akure and Ondo city (both in the Central Senatorial District) in the past, to additional five secondary facilities, including State Specialist Hospital, Ikare-Akoko and General Hospital, Owo in the Northern Senatorial District; General Hospital, Ore, State Specialist Hospital, Okitipupa and General Hospital Igbokoda in the Southern Senatorial District. Residents of the State in the remaining 11 LGAs can also access any of these seven selected hospitals that is close to them.

”Permit me to state that our administration started this journey when we sent a bill to the State House of Assembly in 2018 to establish the Ondo State Contributory Health Scheme (ODCHS) and Ondo State Contributory Health Commission (ODCHC).

“I signed the bill into law in the same year and the office complex of ODCHC was formally commissioned on the 24th of June, 2019. This law mandates each resident of Ondo State to have a health insurance cover and the Ondo State Contributory Health Commission is working assiduously to realise this herculean task.”

Olabode Richard Olatunde
Special Assistant to the Governor (New Media)
December 3, 2019.

Source:https://citadelng.com.ng/2019/12/03/akeredolu-flags-off--maternal-and-child-health-insurance-scheme/