Katsina enrols 293,000 into contributory health scheme

The Katsina State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency has enrolled no fewer than 293,008 people into the scheme.

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Dr Nasir Lawal, the Director Planning, Research and Statistics of the Agency, said this during the 2024 first quarter Social Protection Technical Working Group meeting in Katsina on Thursday.

The meeting was organised by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning with the support of United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF), Kano Field office.

The meeting was aimed at reviewing the progress made with regards to social protection activities planned for 2024.

Presenting the progress report of the agency, the director said that the beneficiaries were enrolled by 170 accredited healthcare providers in the state.

“It is worthy to note that a total of 274,397 beneficiaries accessed healthcare services at primary and secondary levels of care within the last 12 months.

“The Agency also conducted over 6,000 enrolee update ranging from change of healthcare provider, adding dependent, replacement of Identity Cards, among other things,” the director said.

According to Lawal, those enrolled are in the formal sector where employees have a structured salary.

“The programme is designed for all elected and political appointees of state and local government, Katsina State public sector employees among others.”

He added that organisations with a minimum of five employees were also expected to register with the scheme.

“For Katsina State Public Servants, 2.5 per cent of their consolidated salary is being deducted as their contributions.

“For the Organised Private Sector, the employer pays 10 per cent, while the employee pays five per cent, representing 15 per cent of the employee’s monthly basic salary collective, which shall not be less than N5000.”

The director however said that the employer or employee may decide to pay the entire contribution for the year.

He added that payment by students was per academic session at the rate of N2,000, subject to review by the agency.

Lawal disclosed that the agency had distributed more than 2,868 enrollment forms to operatives of the newly established Community Watch Corps for their inclusion in the scheme.

NAN/Wumi