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Ogun begins registration of 20,000 vulnerable for free healthcare

Ogun State government has commenced the registration of 20,000 vulnerable people across its 20 local government areas to get free and qualitative healthcare services in government-owned facilities. The state Commissioner for Health, Dr. Tomi Coker, disclosed this yesterday while monitoring the registration process under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund at the Primary Health Centre, Iperu in Ikenne Local Government Area. Coker said the free health care service was in line with the National Health Act of 2014 which established Basic Health Provision Fund for children below age 5, pregnant women and people above 65 years old who could not afford to pay for health services.

The commissioner disclosed that Governor Dapo Abiodun had released a N100 million start-up grant for the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund. She said the treatment for the first set of the vulnerable would begin almost immediately.

Coker said the basic package under the fund included antenatal care for the pregnant women as well as postnatal care up to six weeks. The commissioner pointed out that overall treatment would be given to children up to the age of 5 while the vulnerable would have access to treatment for headache, common malaria, blood pressure, diabetes, tuberculosis and other basic medical conditions. She said that any treatment which was not available at the nearest Primary Health Centre would be referred to the General Hospital for further management. Coker also noted that the move would be followed by the launch of Ogun State Health Insurance which would involve contributions from both formal and informal sectors. He said: “We are registering 1,000 persons per local government across the state while services would begin almost immediately in the next 60 days.

“The basic package under the Basic Health Provision Fund includes antenatal care for the pregnant women as well as postnatal care up to six weeks.” The Executive Secretary, Ogun State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Afolabi Dosumu, said his agency had selected one beneficiary per household across the wards of the state through a nationally approved social register for indigent people. He said the registration card for each beneficiary would be processed using the Ogun State Health Insurance system software. One of the enrollees, Mr. Ganiu Salami, said having access to affordable healthcare would be beneficial to him. Salami said the money he could have spent on healthcare would be used to feed his family.

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