Ebonyi State NHIA Targets 80% of Informal Population 

In order to boost participation in the health insurance coverage, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Ebonyi State has embarked on a street and market campaign on the benefits of the scheme.

Speaking on the sensitisation programme in Abakaliki, the State Coordinator of NHIA, Dr. Kenneth Ogbu, said that 80 per cent of the informal population were expected to be reached under the campaign.

He identified such groups to include market women, mechanics, artisans, motorcyclists, tricyclists, families and groups.

According to Ogbu, the authority was embarking on strategic marketing in order to sensitise Ebonyians on its ‘Group Individual Family Social Health Insurance Programme-g, (GIFSHIP-g)’.

The NHIA coordinator explained that the GIFSHIP-g was a programme designed to accommodate those not initially covered by other NHIA platforms to enable them also access affordable healthcare.

“It’s because we learnt that the majority of the people in Ebonyi State are not  aware of this programme, especially the market women, that’s why we are going to the markets and to the streets for them to embrace the package,” the coordinator emphasised.

Ogbu further stressed that the package also accommodated retirees, elderly and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members, pointing out that medical treatment was free while patients will only pay 10 per cent of the cost of the drugs prescribed for their treatment.

On the choice of hospitals, he said that the beneficiaries were allowed to choose any hospital of their choice provided those hospitals were accredited by NHIA.