KADCHMA Advocates for Compulsory Enrollment into Health Management Scheme

KADCHMA Advocates for Compulsory Enrollment into Health Management Scheme

Edirin Robinson

The Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA,) has called for the compulsory enrollment of Kaduna residents  in its   Health Insurance  Scheme to
to avoid high out-of-pocket health insurance expenditures.

The Director General of KADCHMA, Mr Abubakar Hassan, while speaking at a one-day orientation meeting with Directors of Administration and Finance (DAF) of Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs,) in Kaduna State, on 9th May 2024, noted that many still ignorant of the enrollment which is why they suffer more with out of pocket spending.

He expressed displeasure at the rate at which out-of-pocket health has affected the people of Kaduna State, adding that health is very important to the survival of any sector because when the Staff and Citizens of a State are healthy, progress is made.

However, he noted that the State and even the nation suffer poverty because a lot of Civil Servants spend their wages and salaries on treating one illness or the other without a guarantee of good healthcare while starving themselves of healthy foods.

The D.G. stressed that considering the various effects of out-of-pocket spending on Citizens, it has become necessary and compulsory for Nigerians to be enrolled in the Contributory Health Insurance Scheme to curb heavy spending on healthcare.

Mallam Hassan advised that people should take advantage of the Health insurance scheme and not wait until an illness strikes before visiting the hospital but should ensure they go for checkups periodically to monitor changes in the body.

“Let me start by congratulating His Excellency for giving us hope and renewing our trust in Government because today, you will recall that during the Manifesto declaration, he committed residents by saying that his administration will push for the adaptation of the Contributory Health Management System in Kaduna State.”

“I want to reemphasize that our sitting today as the Contributory Health Management Authority is a show of commitment to what the government of Senator Uba Sani has put on the ground in terms of ensuring that we build a system by sitting and engaging with different stakeholders.”

“The stakeholders today are the Admins and Directors of finance of all the Ministries, Departments and Agencies in Kaduna today. We are sitting with them to reemphasize the commitment of government and to also deepen their understanding in terms of the Contributory Scheme and its operations in Kaduna over the years.”

“If you ask me whether I’m satisfied to the point where the average person in Kaduna is fully into the scheme and getting healthcare by spending less in terms of out-of-pocket, I will tell you I’m not satisfied yet and I can only be satisfied when the people of Kaduna State are fully engaged in the contributory Health Scheme and have reduced out of pocket which is our major concern and I’m sure that this process that we’ve started through this engagement will take us to that destination.”

‘We have looked at the past when we missed people who come into service and that is why today, we cannot claim 100 percent in terms of the enrollment of the formal sector.”

“So what we have done is to discuss with the Heads of service to say that, during the onboarding process, the forms of every new staff of government at various levels across the MDAs in Kaduna, a KADCHMA form will be attached to the onboarding form and it becomes a responsibility of the Directors of Admins who will now ensure that KADCHMA gets the form and enrolls the person into the scheme.”

“If it is an individual, we’ll do it directly in the office, if it is a cluster, for example, teachers, we do it across the different zones so that we can reduce the cost of transport for them and that is the new process we are going to adopt.”

“For the private sector, we are going to sensitize them to let them know that it is mandatory by law for them to be enrolled in the Contributory Health Management Scheme. We’ll be meeting with school proprietors, leaders of different associations like the NURTW, and others. Today we have trained and deployed 255 community volunteers in Kaduna State who are engaged in door-to-door sensitization.”

“The call of Kadchma is to emphasize prevention, not the curative. An individual should not sit at home and wait until the sickness comes but should periodically visit the hospital. I encourage people to do their checkups annually, twice a year so that they see how their body changes from time to time.”