Acting Executive Secretary, Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme, Dr. Vetty Agala addressing civil servants at the 2024 Civil Service Week in Port Harcourt… recently
By Edu Abade
Governor Siminialayi Fubara has resuscitated and unveiled a health insurance agenda for Rivers people by ensuring that the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP) Law 2020, which was signed into law by the immediate past government in 2021, becomes operational.
The state government disclosed that it has perfected plans of mainstreaming the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme to become operational and to ensure that affordable healthcare services are made accessible to people of the State.
Acting Executive Secretary of the programme, Dr. Vetty Agala, who made the clarification while addressing Rivers people during the 2024 Civil Service Week in Port Harcourt, announced that government workers and non-government employees are eligible to contribute money into a common purse from where their healthcare services would be funded.
Agala, who enjoined all residents of the state to avail themselves of the opportunity, stressed that although free medical care was not new in Rivers State, Governor Fubara, has revived the moribund policy through the health insurance due to the love he has for Rivers people.
The Fubara-led administration has also ensured that the funds are highly subsidized so as to enable more people, especially the poor and vulnerable, to access affordable healthcare within the state.
Citing a household survey carried out by the Rivers State Ministry of Health in 2022, she disclosed that less than 5 percent of the state population knew anything about health insurance, while less than 4 percent of the population is covered by any form of health insurance.
She urged the people to embrace the contributory health programme not only to improve their health status, but to also help them reduce the amount they spend to access quality healthcare services.
Agala announced that the National Health Insurance Authority Act of 2022 stipulates that health insurance should be mandatory for everyone and that Rivers State Government has keyed in to that all-important provision, saying that RIVCHPP will continue to churn out health promotion activities so that the workforce in Rivers can benefit and stay healthy.
The Executive Secretary of RIVCHPP expressed the hope that with the programme, now on course, the health coverage of the state will be accelerated to meet the target 8 (goal 3) of the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs).
