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From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
The Executive Secretary of the Kebbi State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KECHEMA), Dr Jafar Muhaammad Augie, has said that the agency is fully ready to adopt any suggestions from civil society groups and Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on how to move the scheme forward in the state.
Augie stated this while speaking at the two days retreat organized by the agency in Sokoto for stakeholders on how to deepen the scheme in the state.
He said: Civil servants’ salaries have been deducted as part of their contribution to the scheme and they need an explanation on why? We have retirees in the state and workers and students in tertiary institutions who need more explanations.
“The aim is part of IHP support to KECHEMA in ensuring effective operationalization of the scheme, to create awareness on the KECHEMA especially to deepen the knowledge and understanding of participants in healthcare financing concepts.
“We also want to deepen the understanding of the labour union and its affiliates on key health insurance operations and processes including formal sector participation and develop a roadmap for the rollout of enrolment of the former sector into KECHES.”
He added that the agency would implement all the suggestions from the stakeholders and stressed that the issues in the health sector could not postpone because the sector is critical in the lives of citizens.
“We come here with clean hearts, we are ready to listen to all your suggestions. The health sector is a critical sector and we cannot postpone the issues surrounding it”, he said.
Earlier, the Kebbi State Chairman of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Umar Halidu Alhassan, urged the agency to shed more light on the financial implications of the scheme on the workers as deep knowledge of the scheme to the participants.
In her remarks, Dr Aisha Aminu Senchi, a Financial Advisory Officer of IHP, who spoke on Health Financing, explained that the Act establishing KECHEMA has mandated that all the residents in the state should be captured under the scheme.
She explained that poor citizens might not be able to pay for themselves, saying that productive and rich citizens should be paying for the non-productive and dependants.
Senchi said that Kebbi State is leading in enrolment to the scheme, with over 4,000 from the informal sector and also civil servants having been captured.
The retreat was attended by NMA, CSOs, NGOs, JUSUN, and NUJ members among others.
