Kaduna Government Enrolls Vulnerable Population For Free Health Scheme

The Kaduna State Contributory Health Management Authority (KADCHMA) says it has enrolled some vulnerable people into the state health scheme free of charge.

KADCHMA Head of Administration and Finance, Suleiman Mustapha, who disclosed this in Kaduna at a one-day Roundtable Dialogue on maternal and child health dialogue organised by Maternal and Child Health-Civil Society (MCH-CS) Partnership with support from Save the Children International, added that the agency enrolled 136,507 poor and vulnerable population and informal sector into its health insurance scheme.

Mustapha explained that 79,329 poor and vulnerable populations were enrolled for free basic health under the one per cent consolidated revenue of the state government.

According to him, the government has so far released N1.1 billion to cover the basic health care services of the poor and vulnerable.

He also said an additional 50,648 poor and vulnerable populations were enrolled under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, adding that a total of N1.1 billion had also been contributed to cover their healthcare.

Mustapha said 6,530 residents had been enrolled under the informal sector with their contribution amounting to N69.5 million.

The Executive Secretary of the Authority, Abubakar Hassan, explained that KADCHMA was established in February 2018 and commenced the provision of health services in June 2020.

“The scheme aims to reduce out-of-pocket spending on healthcare to the barest minimum, thereby reducing poverty arising from catastrophic and impoverishing health spending.

“The contributory health scheme is a social security system for all residents, carefully designed such that the rich, the healthy and the young subsidised the healthcare of the poor, the sick and the old.

“This is consistent with traditional African solidarity and in line with the overarching global agenda of attaining Universal Health Coverage," he added.

Speaking earlier, the Chairperson, Maternal and Child Health-Civil Society Partnership (MCH-CS), Dorcas Adeyemi said the objective of the dialogue was to share updates on key mandates and programmes of selected health agencies and share an understanding of the critical roles of civil society in promoting quality Maternal Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) services and accountability in the state.

“This will help us share areas of collaboration in relation to MNCH advocacy and accountability in Kaduna State,” she said.