By Edu Abade
Health experts and stakeholders have commended the Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP) for its all encompassing approach towards expanding and making universal healthcare coverage more accessible to residents of the state.
The stakeholders rated the Rivers State health insurance agency high during a capacity assessment validation and dissemination workshop in Port Harcourt, the state capital, facilitated by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) through the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) Project grant to assess how well RIVCHPP has fared within the one year of its existence.
Acting Executive Secretary of RIVCHPP, Dr. Vetty Agala, who welcomed participants and stakeholders to the workshop, pointed out that the assessment has provided the agency with valuable insights into its strengths and weaknesses and possible areas of improvement.
She said the assessment remains a critical step towards developing a work plan to enhance the capacity of the agency and ultimately achieve its vision and mission of providing quality healthcare services to Rivers people without placing the financial burden on beneficiaries going forward.
A statement made available to journalists by the Information and Media Officer of RIVCHPP, Idanye Oruigoni indicates that Agala, who expressed gratitude to all stakeholders who had contributed to the assessment, expressed the hope of developing a work plan that would address the identified gaps and challenges in the assessment.
Agala charged the participants at the workshop to be more open and honest in their discussions, as they actively participate to come up with a robust validated document that would help to make a positive difference in the agency’s deliverables.
Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Health, Dr. Comfort Mekele Igwe, who declared the workshop open, congratulated the RIVCHPP team for painstakingly expanding universal health coverage in the state, while urging the agency to do better to enroll more Rivers State residents and in creating more awareness about the work being done in the health sector.
In his goodwill message, Rivers State Coordinator of the National Health Insurance Authority, Mr. Chris Itodo, commended RIVCHPP for the uncommon commitment to expanding the health reach of Rivers residents, saying that RIVCHPP has surpassed other states’ health insurance agencies, which have operated for years, through its drive and services.
Also, in their goodwill messages, Executive Secretary of Rivers State Primary Healthcare Management Board, Prof. Kinikanwo Green; Programme Lead, Rivers State office of Clinton Health Access Initiative, Dr. Simene Sangha and Dr. Blessing Unamba of CHAI, among others, praised RIVCHPP for its accomplishments within the first one year of its existence.
They equally expressed the hope that the agency would do better in the coming years, while urging the agency’s team led by Dr. Agala to draw up a strategic work plan for easy monitoring and evaluation.
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