The Borno government says it has enrolled 46,000 vulnerable persons under its free healthcare scheme to enhance quality healthcare delivery in the state.
This was made known by the Executive Secretary, Borno State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency, Dr. Saleh Abba-Kaza, at a news conference on Wednesday in Maiduguri.
He said the beneficiaries comprised mainly of vulnerable persons, pregnant women, children under the age of five, the poor, People Living with Disabilities, and the aged.
Dr. Abba-Kaza said the beneficiaries are receiving free medical treatment under the programme in line with the provisions of the National Health Act 2014.
He said that 183 primary healthcare facilities were accredited to provide services to the beneficiaries, while 13 additional PHCs were awaiting accreditation across 25 local government areas of the state.
The agency, he said, was geared towards ensuring access to quality, affordable and equitable healthcare services to all through sustainable healthcare financing.
“To ensure sustainable healthcare financing and free healthcare for the vulnerable people of Borno, the state government offered one per cent of the consolidated revenue of the state and local government council to purchase efficient healthcare services for the vulnerable persons.
“A take-off grant of N100 million was released to the agency by the state government in April 2020, for the smooth operation of the agency, including to hire a temporary office, purchase of utility vehicle, office infrastructure, ICT and enrolment of the formal sector.
“So far, BOSCHMA received the sum of N418.9m in 2021; N557m in 2022, and N337m in 2023. Cumulatively; about N1.3bn grant through the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund.
“The state has been funding the Zulum-Special Health Intervention Programme (Z-SHIP) for free healthcare to people with special needs,” he said.
According to him, the agency has concluded plans to enrol 100,000 civil servants into the programme, to tackle the effect of out-of-pocket health financing through sustainable healthcare financing and the creation of a health safety net.
(NAN)
