By Soyombo Opeyemi

Just how many Nigerians know that there are thousands of poor and vulnerable women and their children under the age of five receiving free medical services across the length and breadth of Ogun State? Just how many Nigerians are aware that Ogun, among the 36 states of the federation, is the most celebrated by the National Health Insurance Scheme, being the only one that has state-wide social health insurance scheme? As a matter of fact, during any National Retreat of the NHIS, Ogun is usually the “Faculty or Resource State”, what others may understand as a case study for other states to learn from or emulate.

According to the Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Babatunde Ipaye, “The new Executive Secretary of NHIS, Prof Usman Yusuf, often says that it is what Ogun State is doing now that NHIS ought to have been doing over the years.”

Gov Ibikunle Amosun

Some six months ago, I had said this on Ogun Free Health Access Card: “It looked like the ATM card at a distance. I drew closer to some of the pregnant women and officials of the Ogun State Ministry of Health in order to assess it. Indeed, it was like the ATM or National Identity Card.

The biometrics of the beneficiaries were captured in the cards. The poor pregnant women at the event caressed them and offered gratitude to the governor of Ogun State, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, for a new lease of life. From that day, Monday, July 11, 2016, when the Araya Scale-up (Community Based Health Insurance Scheme) was launched at the June 12 Cultural Centre, Abeokuta, the card qualifies them to visit any of the designated Health Care Providers in their respective local councils and access free health care without paying a dime.

The free health treatment covers all manner of local endemic diseases that contend with the health of pregnant women, mothers and their children. Ante natal and post-natal services are assured. They will equally not have to worry about payment for diagnostic tests as this is also covered by the scheme.

This is the first of such scheme in the history of Ogun State. With the Ogun Araya Access Card, according to Dr ‘Tunde Ipaye, the pregnant women who belong to the lower 25 per cent of the population, living on less than two dollars a day and their children under the age of five, have access to free health services without any form of payment.”

To underscore how passionate the government is about this scheme, two Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) based in each Local Government Area have been engaged by the Ministry to ensure that only the vulnerable women and their children actually benefit. We must avoid a situation where those who have the resources to take care of themselves displace these poor women and their children.

The NGOs also visit the homes of the beneficiaries to ensure they truly deserve free health. The state government has  Health Service Providers in each Local Government Area. And to further ensure these vulnerable residents are not in any way shortchanged, the new Free Health Card has, engraved on its back, the phone number to call in case they are not well taken care of in line with the agreement these Service Providers (hospitals) signed with the state government.

There is also a plan to involve “Community Gate-keepers”, influencers within each local council such as Community Development Associations, retired scholars, etc. to further safeguard the sanctity of the free health scheme. What further evidence do we need to demonstrate the commitment of the Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, to the welfare of his people?

It should be mentioned that this Community Based Health Insurance Scheme is a subset of the Ogun State Health Insurance Scheme, which will be for the entire residents of the state. Ordinarily, in any insurance scheme, participants ought to pay a premium. But for the peasant pregnant women and their U-5 children, the Amosun administration has offset the premium.

No government can solve all the problems in one fell swoop. We must acknowledge the giant leap the health sector has taken under the current government. A segment of the health workers should, therefore, be weary of being used to settle political scores. In the final analysis, the masses know that the current government is their only real and true friend. No amount of propaganda can change the narrative.

*Soyombo sent this from Abeokuta via densityshow@yahoo.com