Hot Source.As Foundation sponsors health insurance for Naifoh Island residents
Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
Relief has come the way of 150 residents of Naifor Island in Ogbe-Ijoh, a riverine community in Warri South-West Local Government Area, following their enrollment into the Delta State Contributory Health Scheme, courtesy of a charitable organization, Light Up the Creeks Foundation.
The gesture is in response to persistent appeal for individuals and groups to key into the Indigent Enrollee Adoption Initiative of the Delta State Contributory Health Commission (DSCHC) in its avowed commitment to breaking all forms of barriers to accessing quality healthcare across the state.
The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the DSCHC, Dr Isaac Akpoveta, commended the initiator and Chairman of the Light up the Creeks Foundation, Chief Favour Izuokumor and his management team for taking special interest in the health of the people at the grassroots.
He noted that the state Governor, Hon Sheriff Oborevwori, has invested heavily in the health sector, providing free healthcare for pregnant women and Under-five children, in addition to subsidising healthcare for those in the formal and informal sectors.
Dr Akpoveta, who was represented by the Director, Planning, Research, Statistics and ICT of the Commission, Mr Emmanuel Akpofure, stressed that healthcare is never a luxury reserved for the rich alone, calling on other well-meaning citizens and groups within and outside the state to sponsor health insurance for vulnerable and lessprivileged people around them, at a government subsidised rate of N7,000 (seven thousand naira) per person, a year.
He assured the people of the state government’s commitment to inclusive access to healthcare in line with the M.O.R.E agenda of the Oborevwori administration.
In the remarks, the Chairperson, Light Up the Creeks Foundation Management, Mrs Agbajor Jolomi Pajiah, and Pastor Jeremiah Samson, described the organization as “a gathering of like minds who understand the plight of people in the creeks, saying the foundation reached out to the vulnerable through various forms of empowerment, hence the move to sponsor health insurance to enable 150 persons in Naifor Island access healthcare freely for a whole year.
They commended Governor Oborevwori for his giant strides in various sectors of the economy, and the Commission for providing a platform for seamless sponsorship of “indigent persons to enjoy the state health insurance scheme, saying that they were happy to partner with the state government.
The State Coordinator, National Health Insurance Authority, Mr Sunday Ojoneh, represented by Mr Samuel Uzoka, noted that health insurance was key to solving challenges of health complications and death due to poverty and inaccessibility to proper health services, adding that health insurance saves out-of-pocket expenses and helps to improve good health in the society.
While thanking Izuokumor and his team kind for the gesture, the overjoyed beneficiaries thanked the Delta State Government for the scheme.
Highpoint of the event was the registration and issuance of health cards to the beneficiaries and new enrollees into the scheme as well as the presentation of a plaque to the sponsor, Mr Favour Izuokumor, as a ‘Health Insurance Ambassador’.
