Ebonyi increases health insurance enrolment

From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki

The Ebonyi State Government is to enroll additional 200,000 citizens into the state health insurance scheme.

Governor Francis Nwifuru made the disclosure, yesterday, in his office when he received the National Executive Committee of the Medical and Dental Consultants Association of Nigeria (MDCAN), led by Prof Appolos Ndukuba.

The governor emphasised that the state, under his watch, is relentless in pursuit of the welfare of medical doctors, healthcare workers and allied medical staff under the state’s employ.

He informed the MDCAN leadership that “in Ebonyi, we believe that when we go into government, we prioritise the welfare of others”. He further explained the rationale behind the sharp increase in the medical staff’s emoluments which contrasted with what obtains outside the state.

“We also activated our general hospitals, recruited medical doctors, health attendants and other allied medical staff, provided mobility for the medical resident doctors in the General Hospitals. We did all these, because we want them to render essential services for our people.

“With the huge infrastructural interventions across the state’s 13 general hospitals, medical services have increased, reason for the demand of consultants to man the rural health facilities to complement the efforts of resident doctors” the governor explained.

“Let me also inform that the Commissioner for Health in the state has briefed about the need to bring consultants in the 13 general hospitals. I am happy you are here. Please volunteer even if on adjunct or part-time basis”.

Speaking earlier, Professor Apollos Ndukuba, the President, MDCAN, informed the governor that MDCAN is an amalgam of medical experts found as trainers in public teaching hospitals.

“We are the doctors that train doctors and provide specialist services in all the Teaching Hospitals”, Ndukuba said.

He said the National Executive Council meeting is tagged Salt City NEC August, 2026 meeting and themed: “Mitigating Health Impact of Nigeria’s Rising Multidimensional Poverty: The Dilemma of the Healthcare Provider in a Strained Economy and the Demand of Work”, a theme that is not only timely, but apt, given the reality on ground.

Professor Ndukuba expressed immense appreciation for the giant infrastructures dotting the state’s medical space put in place by the governor.