Katsina enrols 386,289 people into contributory healthcare scheme

The Katsina State Government says it has enrolled 386,289 people into the state’s contributory healthcare scheme.

Nasir Lawal, the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics of the state’s Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KTSCHMA), disclosed this in Katsina on Friday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Lawal said this in a presentation at the Social Protection Technical Working Group (TWG) quarterly meeting.

The meeting was organised by the state’s Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, with the support of UNICEF, Kano Field office.

According to him, 262,261 beneficiaries have been enrolled through the formal sector, while 83,870 people are under the scheme through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF).

Mr Lawal explained that more than 22,491 clients were also enrolled through the UNICEF-GAVI FUND/KTSCHMA MoU in eight zero-dose local government areas, with another 17,667 beneficiaries through the Clinton Health Access Initiative.

The KTCHMA representative said no fewer than 12,205 under-five children were also registered, while 3,786 pregnant women are also enjoying the scheme.

He noted that the state government had also registered 59,056 most vulnerable persons into the system, 4,938 others with disabilities, and 3,885 elderly persons.

He pointed out that the state government had evolved guidelines to ensure accountability on how the contributions would be utilised.

“The guidelines stipulate that KTCHMA forwards a quarterly programme report of its activities across the operational thematic areas under the scheme.

“The report is to provide an overview of the monitoring and evaluation of the scheme from January to August 2024, under the leadership of the Director-General, Mohammad Tukur Ibrahim.

“It is also to highlight successes achieved, challenges faced and recommendations for improvement.”

He explained that KTCHMA recently received another BHCPF disbursement for another enrollment in August 2024, which is on-going

The director also said that the scheme had enrolled all the Katsina State Community Watch Corps with one dependent, and more than 3,000 sickle cell clients.

“We also succeeded in enrolling 7,000 newly recruited staff of the state’s Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) into the scheme, paid capitation and fee-for-services to all healthcare providers without any outstanding charge.”

During the meeting, Fatima Musa, a Social Policy Specialist with UNICEF Kano Field Office, presented a paper on planning and budgeting for result-based social protection.

(NAN)