6th March, 2011
Lagos State over the weekend launched the Ibeju-Lekki community based health insurance scheme for the provision of sustainable healthcare coverage for the people of the state in line with the notions of accessibility, equity, quality, efficiency and affordability, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris has disclosed.
Idris who spoke through his Permanent Secretary, Dr Femi Olugbile at the launch of the Scheme explained that the Scheme signalled the beginning of a new order in the creation of a formalised welfare system for the provision of sustainable healthcare coverage for the citizens of the state.
He noted that the scheme has been specifically designed to provide financial access to healthcare for members of the Iberekodo and Awoyaya communities with an estimated population of 85,423 covering seven political wards into which premiums are paid in advance on monthly basis.
He opined that the state government’s decision to embark on the community based health insurance model within the larger State Health Insurance Scheme framework was premised on both global best practices as well as a firm understanding of the distinctive features of the state’s population and economy.
He stressed that government was not unaware that in extending social health protection through health insurance and instituting formal-type health insurance systems akin to those in developed economies would not deliver the expected impact as the larger part of our population are within the informal sector economy where incomes are smaller, irregular, and largely not banked.
Community-based health insurance by definition is health insurance managed by the community for non profit motives based on an ethic of mutual aid and solidarity amongst its members.
“This model has been effectively used to extend social health protection to erstwhile not reached informal sector populations within West Africa and East Africa with countries including neighbouring Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda having deployed the model with significant successes,†he said.
The commissioner opined that the blueprint for the revitalisation of the primary health care system is the community-based financing strategy which was adopted for implementation after extensive stakeholder sensitisation and consultative meetings with the participation of various sectors including the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, private sector healthcare providers, development partners and health maintenance organisations.
He averred that the success or failure of the scheme would be determined by the quality of the oversight functions of the board of trustees and by extension the mutual health administration office hence he charged them to continuously drive the social marketing and community mobilisation programme.
Said he, “without fail and in full collaboration with our present and prospective partners, the state shall provide the necessary enabling environment to extend social health protection by families, communities and local governments until universal coverage in pre-paid healthcare is achieved. It is our conviction that the time has come in the state where healthcare would be guaranteed based on needs rather than the avaliabilty of cash at the point of care.â€
He listed some of the benefits to be derived from the scheme as including the possibilities for community-based health promotion and disease prevention; strengthening of the primary healthcare system; public-private partnerships in healthcare provision; data collection for the proposed state social security system; effective targeting of existing state subsidies for health; promotion of enterprise in communities; and the reduction of poverty in the population among others.
Idris stressed that the state government has also resolved to explore the full benefits of these opportunities within its implementation framework in order to maximise the impact of the strategy in the medium and long term.
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