By Shuaibu Usman
Especially at this time, the Nigerian health sector is unabatedly experiencing a surge in health expenditures almost making it prohibitively expensive for many like the low-income earners to meet their health needs across all circle of medical conditions.
Health advocates recently resolved that Nigerian private sector and individuals participation in making healthcare services affordable, accessible and efficient for people in the informal sector too must be encouraged to indicate realistic readiness of attaining universal health coverage by 2027 through health insurance scheme by avoiding issues of exclusivity in special treatment, high registration fee for interested insurers and bridging the gap of limited treatment options among others.
For now, it is nearly a decade that the Maikaya Development Foundation, a non-profit, non-political, philanthropic organisation, has been renewing the hope of the Nasarawa people in accessing effective and efficient healthcare services for their health needs to save them from relying heavily on out-of-pocket expenses and catastrophic health expenditures.
Tomorrow, the Maikaya Development Foundation led by its Founder/CEO, Dr. Muhammed Musa Maikaya will flag off the enrolment of 750 needy individuals into the Nasarawa State Health Insurance Scheme at the Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Centre Kwandare which will be flagged off by Governor Abdullahi Sule.
The health insurance of these vulnerable people most of which are the aged, women and children will redirect the provision of their health needs which before now had been nearly inadequate and inaccessible.
The Maikaya Development Foundation’s charitable gesture is one of its six-point founding thrust of building peace, transforming lives through economic empowerment, ensuring educational excellence through provision of quality educational support services, investing in women as amazing home-based industrialists, improving better healthcare service delivery for the attainment of universal health coverage by 2027 and changing the lives and fortunes of the young people for the better.
The enrolment of the 750 needy individuals into the Nasarawa State Health Insurance Scheme is now a much-talked development being the first of its kind. This is bringing a new spectrum of individual-based health revolution in the state.
The Chief Operating Officer of the Foundation, Hon. Shuaibu Sani, posited that the insurance of the financially constrained individuals would ensure accessible medical and healthcare services that would better the people’s healthcare lots at all times.
Sani added that the adoption and payment for 750 vulnerable individuals across the state is in further demonstration of the Foundation’s shared commitment to the welfare of the people of Nasarawa State, especially the poor population.
Maikaya Development Foundation has not only been investing in healthcare and sports development alone, it has an unrivalled cause for peace and unity which is not in contest. It is needless to acknowledge the fact that Maikaya Development Foundation has identified the underlying power of a healthy society being a vigorously wealthy society as a means to end most of the society’s daily predicaments.
To this end, Maikaya Development Foundation says it is glad to express its continual determination to live up to expectations in putting smiles on the faces of the people, pledging to unravel more programmes in stock to advance progress.
Shuaibu Usman is the General Editor of Nasarawa Newsline Newspaper.