The Ogun state government says it is targeting about 3.5 million residents in its community Health Insurance Scheme tagged ARAYA aimed at providing affordable and qualitative primary health care delivery for residents in the next three years.

The State Commissioner for Health, Mr. Babatunde Ipaye, made the disclosure while addressing journalists shortly after a stakeholders’ meeting in Abeokuta, the state capital.

He said over 12,000 persons, mostly pregnant women and children under five are presently benefiting from the community based Health Insurance Scheme; stressing that, the government is covering up identified shortfalls for more service delivery.

To ensure the success of the programme, the commissioner said the government is sponsoring an executive bill on comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme in the scale-up of the programme in the state in order to encourage more citizens to participate.

“What we are doing presently is that we have about 86 facilities for the scheme, if you look at our record, we have about 42 secondary facilities and almost 368 private hospitals that are licensed by the Ogun state government for the scheme.

“So, as soon as we scale up the programme and have more people enrolled, we are going to have them linked to additional facilities based on closeness to them, because in the final analysis, we don’t want beneficiaries to go for more than one or two kilometers before they get to ARAYA centre.

“As much as we are able to enroll more beneficiaries, then we have engage more new facilities and God willing, the state governor, Ibikunle Amosun, is committed to providing the necessary financial and political support for the scheme.

“We are also very lucky, the many successes we have recorded have attracted more development partners and if we pull all these together, we will be able to reach the target we desired and the number is to take care of as many as possible.

“Remember that we are planning to have a bill pass into law that will make this an exercise that everybody in Ogun State will willing enroll into and if we able to get a scheme based on peoples trust and confidence, a scheme that will support government quest for qualitative and affordable health care delivery for the people. Even if we have 50% of Ogun indigenes we are talking of about 3.5 million beneficiaries.” (Channels TV)

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