Katsina health contributory scheme sets to improve service delivery

On Oct 20, 2023

The Katsina State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KTSCHMA), says the implementation of the Health Insurance Under One-Roof (HIUOR) will enhance access to quality healthcare services at the grassroots. The Director-General of the Agency, Mr Muhammad Safana, said this in an interview with Newsmen, on Thursday in Katsina.

He said the implementation of HIUOR scheme would enable enrollees to access its services outside the state.

According to him, HIUOR is a policy thrust of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to enhance Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country.

It seeks to bring NHIA, State Social Health Insurance Schemes (SSHISs), private health insurance schemes, the Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) under one coordinating platform for synergy, effectiveness and efficiency.

Safana said that the Agency’s services are currently limited within the 34 local government areas of the state.

“We are hopping to extend the services to enrollees outside the state, especially when we are able to implement the Health Insurance Under One-Roof programme,” he said.

He said that the state’s contributory health insurance scheme has developed operational guidelines and benefit package meant to achieve its objectives, adding that the benefit package should be followed to sustain the healthcare financing processes.

“We have what we call generic drugs, you don’t expect someone to go and get branded drugs that is costly, but what is deducted from his/her salary is not more than N1,000 and give him/her a drug of N3,000 like Augmentin. For instance, we give antimalarial generic drugs to patients with malaria cases, these drugs are prescribed to all KTSCHMA enrollees. The essence of the scheme is that the rich subsidised for the poor, the healthy subsidised for the sick, those in the formal sector subsidized for those in the informal sector. And the quality of the healthcare within the service is determined by the contribution that we are giving,” he said.

NAN/Wumi