Ogun Government Plans Accessible Healthcare Package For Civil Servants, Others
By ABIODUN JIMOH, ABEOKUTA
A new dawn is about setting in healthcare sector in Ogun State as package for Health Insurance Scheme that will enable people access affordable and quality healthcare services is being put in place by the state government.
Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, disclosed this during a courtesy visit by the management of Stanbic IBTC Holdings in his office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, where he affirmed his administration consideration to put in place the scheme that would enable the less privileged in the society to have access to quality healthcare without paying much for it.
In his address, he said: “We want to instill the culture of health insurance so that it will help in paying for healthcare. A couple of states are doing something that is interesting that we are trying to study. But we want to ensure that we start with civil servants, cooperatives, market associations, among others.
“They will pay stipends while we will give them cards that show that they can go to Primary Health Centres and do not have to pay anything and even when they are referred to the tertiary health facilities, they do not have to pay anything. That should help us fund social services better. We are investing in Primary Health Centres and tertiary health facilities as well.”
In the same vein, Gov Abiodun revealed that his administration has currently embarked on rehabilitation of some township and border town roads through direct labour, while describing funds as the major impediment in carrying out repair of all roads in the state.
Similarly, the governor who intimated his guests of his administration’s programmes, noted that 236 primary schools across the state were being rehabilitated since the basic school is the foundation with which other levels are built upon.
“Education is our pride, we must maintain our position which used to be number one in education in this country. You will recall that this is birth place of free education. This state has the highest number of universities, secondary schools. We probably have the highest number of pupils in primary schools as well.
“It is important we maintain that number one position, not just because we are always number one, but because we are bringing in more people from Lagos who are going to live and work here. We must cater for them,” he said.
Moreover, Prince Abiodun emphasised that government has put in place machineries to provide adequate security, while it was also leveraging on the Central Bank of Nigeria intervention programmes like the Anchor’s Borrowers Programme to positively engage the youth and unemployed, as well as explore Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in repositioning the education sector and in governance.
The state helmsman stressed that the involvement of the private sector would enhance rapid economic development.
He however maintained that his administration would achieve his mission of “building our future together”, through fairness, equality, accountability and inclusiveness. He called on the banks and other corporate bodies to partner government in achieving its objectives.
Speaking earlier, the Group Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Mr. Yinka Sanni, said his organization was already partnering government in the health sector as part of their Corporate Social Responsibilities.
“We are ready to partner with government in the health sector as part of our corporate social responsibilities. We focus on three areas of health, education and empowerment.
“We are looking at the possibility of adopting some Primary Health Centres, especially those that are located near where we do business. We see it as a way of partnering with those that are accommodating us to do business. We are willing to do that and we are excited about it,’ he opined.
