In the dead of the night on the fateful day, Iya Alamun as she is fondly called, rushed her son, Alamun, to a private hospital in Osogbo, capital of Osun State. The little kid was in pain and he needed urgent medical attention. The doctor and the nurses on duty at the private hospital commenced treatment instantly.
After examining the patient, the doctor prescribed some drugs and a nurse took the prescription to the woman. The nurse pointed the pharmacy to her and urged her to get the drug immediately. Alas, Iya Alamun brought her son to the hospital without money on her. When the doctor realised the inability of Iya Alamun to buy the drugs in the preliminary stage of the treatment of her son, He told her that he would not be able to admit Alamun for treatment in the hospital.
But the case of Mrs Omowumi Rasaq was different. She works with a Federal Government agency and her family was enrolled in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Whenever any of her children was not feeling fine, even for a complaint of slight headache, she only needed to visit the hospital and get comprehensive treatment for her children without fear of medical bill.
But not many nursing mothers enjoy such privilege like Omowumi. Findings revealed that only about 7 million Nigerians are captured by NHIS while over 160 million people are not covered by NHIS. This makes it imperative for states across the country to set up and run social health Insurance schemes for more citizens to partake and benefit.
The setting up of the Osun State Health Insurance Scheme has reached an appreciable stage and the likes of Iya Alamun would soon begin to enjoy the package. While Osun State is still struggling to finalise the process of setting up its insurance scheme, Oyo State has moved far and the people of Oyo State are already enjoying the benefit of the social health insurance.
Mrs Atinuke Ajibola, a resident of Agbongbon in Ibadan, Oyo state was full of praises to God that his son, Abiola Ajibola survived an illness that almost take his life. The joy of Atinuke was not just that her son didn’t die, she was also happy that she could get medical treatment for the boy at the right time without the burden of out of pocket payment. She expressed joy that she did not become bankrupt because of the sickness of the boy.
“I heard about the health insurance scheme and I registered my son with the Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA). When he was sick, I didn’t hesitate to take him to the hospital and he was treated. If not for the health insurance, I wouldn’t have the courage to go to the hospital because I don’t have money. I have decided to register his siblings too.”
The Oyo State Health Insurance Agency(OYSHIA) was set up on 18th August, 2015 and passed into law on the 8th of November 2016, assented to by Governor Abiola Ajimobi in December, 2016 and flagged off by the governor on 25th May, 2017. With a strong legal frame work, the health insurance scheme in Oyo State was made mandatory for all residence of the state.
Yet, unlike Ajibola, many residents of Oyo state are still not on the health insurance scheme in the state. According to the National Population Commission, the population of Oyo State is 8,351,831. Out of this number, only 100,000 enrolled for the health insurance in the state. Meanwhile, there are 1,670,366 children that are below five years of age in the state.
This attracted the attention of the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) which is providing supports to Oyo State Government through the insurance agency. A UNICEF Health Specialist, Dr. Adebola Hassan said health insurance is very necessary to prevent avoidable death particularly among children. Adebola said the benefits of health insurance are enormous particularly in attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and ensure good health for the people without experiencing out-of-pocket spending when they have health challenges.
The Executive Secretary of OYSHIA, Dr Olusola Akande said over 10,000 children less than 5 years and pregnant women are on the scheme and that there have been 350 vaginal deliveries and 78 Caesarean sessions carried out under the scheme. He said primary healthcare centres accredited for the scheme have been fully upgraded to offer best quality healthcare services to the people of the state.
Akande added that OYSHIA is funded with 2 percent consolidated fund from the State’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Oyo state. He said the agency is also getting fund from grants, premium, and philanthropy. He said OYSHIA’s benefit packages include Standard Plan with Option of Top-up, Family Plan and Student Plan.
Dr Akande said the scheme targets 450,000 enrolees to cover five percent of the population of the state by mid of this year. He commended UNICEF for assisting the state to achieve the target and ensure good health for the people of the state, particularly the children and women. He said OYSHIA has been rated very high in terms of performance and assured that the agency would not relent in making sure that the people of the state enjoy quality healthcare without expending their entire savings on medical bills.
He said some farmers in the rural areas in the state who wanted to enrol in the scheme but lack the financial capacity to pay the premium for the enrolment have resorted to giving out their farm produce to the agency in lieu of cash. He expressed worry that many people are still not aware of the activities of OYSHIA and sought the support of the media to propagate the importance of health insurance to the people so that more people would enrol.
According to him, “Many people who would have loved to enrol in our health insurance programme but lack financial capacity to pay the premium voluntary agreed to give us yams and palm oil and other farm produce in lieu of cash to be paid for the premium. In the agency, we have set up a marketing section that is helping us to sell the yams and palm oil and other farm produce and when we sell them, we help the owners to keep the money until it is enough to pay the premium and enrol them”.
The Director, Press and Public Relation, Oyo State Ministry of Information, culture and Tourism, Mr Rotimi Babalola also lauded UNICEF for its efforts in ensuring the well-being of children and women.
UNICEF Communication Specialist, Mrs Blessing Ejiofor said access to quality healthcare is a right of every child and charged the media to assist in reporting issues that would prompt the policy makers to take proactive steps and implement policies that would make life better for children, women and other vulnerable groups.
She stressed the need to create awareness on benefits of health insurance scheme so that children and vulnerable populations would gain access to quality healthcare services without experiencing catastrophic health expenditure.
Many residents of Oyo state who enrolled in the health insurance scheme said it has provided opportunities for them to get medical care.
