Enugu: 9 LGAs Yet To Enrol In State Universal Health Coverage

Despite calls for massive enrolment of residents of Enugu State in the state universal health coverage to ensure quality and affordable medical services, only eight local government areas out of seventeen have health centres accredited for the scheme.
THE WHISTLER findings show that Igbo-Etiti LGA is leading with five health centres; followed by Aninri, four; Udenu, four; Nkanu West, three; Enugu North, three; Udi, two; Ezeagu, one, and Isi-Uzo, one, with the remainders scoring zero. It was gathered that eighty-five health facilities, mainly government-owned primary health care centres, except one, were prequalified to render the services. In all, only 7, 102 persons have been enrolled out of over two million residents being targeted.
A medical expert, who does not want his name mentioned, regretted the lack of enthusiasm for the scheme. He however blamed it on the failure of stakeholders to do the needful. According to him, “The scheme offers free and quality medical services to pregnant women and children under five years of age. Gov Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi has shown enough commitment toward quality health services to the people of the state. I squarely blame council chairmen, ward councillors, political stakeholders and church leaders for chasing shadows.
“The scheme is made in such a way that council chairmen, through health officials attached to them, mobilise the populace to enrol. Except Igbo-Etiti, Udenu, Nkanu West and few others, what have others being doing? I expect that these stakeholders would key into this scheme to make it a success. They should even enroll vulnerable ones in the scheme because it costs only N12, 000 annually per head.”
The state health commissioner, Dr Obi Emmanuel Ikechukwu, said, “The Enugu State Agency for Universal Health Coverage is mandated to oversee universal health coverage in the state. One of the strategies is the health insurance scheme. It is in process. The steps for its full materialisation are being taken. The steps put in place by the federal government are being followed.”
Dr Edith Okolo, executive secretary of the agency, had earlier said the agency targeted over two million residents of the state in the near future.

According to her, “The mandate of the agency, according to the Enugu State Health Sector Reform Law of 2017, aims at implementing the state universal health coverage scheme for all residents of Enugu State. We started from the scratch. The governor, in his magnanimity, allocated a befitting building to us. He also made available N200m to us to put the equipment in place. Every single thing we asked for, we have gotten from the state government. The state government has been 100% behind this programme.”

A health officer working in Udenu LGA told our correspondent that, “We work weekends just to capture as many as possible. We encourage people to enrol because health is wealth. We register people, and then the agency officials do the data capturing. It is real.”

Our correspondent reports that the services cover high blood pressure, diabetes, malaria, infections, surgeries, accidents, antenatal services, among others. It requires residents to contribute N1, 000 monthly or N12, 000 yearly to access the services.