The Executive Secretary of the Anambra State Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA) Dr. Simeon Onyemaechi has revealed that more and more citizens are being enrolled into the state social health insurance programme.
Onyemaechi said Anambra state aims at achieving universal health coverage by the year 2030 in line with the United Nations sustainable development goals, adding that ASHIA has registered over a hundred and ten thousand citizens into the state health insurance scheme.
Onyemaechi, who disclosed recent developments in the agency to Newsmen in Awka, explained that about 40,000 enrollees emanated from the informal sector due to everyday sensitisation on the benefits of the scheme carried out by ASHIA.
He also said that close to 40,000 Ndi-Anambra who are mostly traders, farmers, artisans and many more have found themselves in the health insurance programme of the state government and that the governor, Chief Willie Obiano, was working round the clock to remove every barrier that might hinder citizens from accessing quality health care.
The ASHIA boss noted that the state government was poised to reduce the infection rate of the COVID-19 pandemic, stressing that the Anambra State Government had been applauded by different stakeholders across the country for being the first state to pioneer the use of ward taskforce to enforce compliance on COVID-19 prevention protocols in the villages and communities.
Dr. Simeon who said the state had market taskforce, motorpark taskforce and other enforcement groups in the informal sector of the economy, noted that the arrangement helped tremendously in the curtailment and management of the COVID-19 pandemic especially at the community levels.
He further recalled that in 2018, Anambra state clinched the first position in immunization coverage in Nigeria; that the state has not rested on its oars because the governor has continued to invest heavily in the health sector. He also pointed out that ASHIA does not condone sharp practices among health care providers who were in contractual agreements with the agency and that the agency has currently sanctioned about four health facilities who allegedly shortchanged ASHIA enrollees.
Onyemaechi finally Explained that where it was established that ASHIA enrollees were swindled by contracting hospitals, the agency compelled the erring hospitals to make instant refunds to the affected enrollees, just as the terms of engagements clearly stated in the operational guidelines of the Anambra State Health Insurance Agency.
