By Edu Abade
As part of efforts to market the programmes and activities of the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP), Acting Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr. Vetty Agala and her team were at the Ministry of Women Affairs to sensitize and enroll more women for more robust healthcare benefits in the state.
She and her team embarked on the visit when the state government marked the 2024 International Widows Day and later at the Alfred Diette Spiff Civic Centre, venue of Women Unite to Pray for Sim, to discuss the strategic initiative of Governor Siminialayi Fubara to empower and bring residents closer to quality healthcare services without placing the payment burden for the services on them.
Agala stressed that women will remain the major beneficiaries of the programme of the state government in the health insurance scheme moderated by the RIVCHPP, where pregnant women, children of less than five years of age, people living with disabilities, those above 60 years of age, poor widows and people who are chronically ill, are enrolled to access quality health care services free of charge under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.
The RIVCHPP Executive Secretary also informed the women that aside from those in the above enumerated categories, the agency’s services also cover everyone living and doing business in the State, reiterating that those in the informal sector of the economy can benefit from the agency’s package christened “Sim jara “, where enrollees will only pay a premium of N15,000 that will entitle them to access quality healthcare services for a full year.
Agala, who revealed that RIVCHPP’s services are available across the state, urged individuals, groups and organizations to embrace the opportunity by either enrolling themselves or others they feel like showing care or love to for such persons to also have access to healthcare without bearing any financial burden.
She used the medium to thank Governor Siminialayi Fubara for his unwavering support in healthcare, especially for the vulnerable, while also appreciating the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Adaeze Chidinma Oreh, for the innovations and leadership she has shown in the state’s health sector.
Highlights of the visits were distribution of the agency’s flyers and enrolment of some vulnerable persons at the venues.
