By joshua 
The Executive Secretary Kogi State Health insurance agency, Dr. Adekunle Aledare on Wednesday parley Media Executives with a call on people of Kogi State to take advantage of the Agency to access quality health care delivery.
The interaction with media was to intimate the Media Chiefs on the activities of the agency especially on the vital and voluntary premium of the agency towards accessing quality health care delivery.
According to the Executive Secretary, it has under the Vulnerable group health insurance programme enrolled about 31,491 persons across the 21 local government areas of the state.
He noted that another 120 pregnant women have been enrolled under the Senator Smart Care Intervention, disclosed that the milestone recorded thus far is attributed to the Political will of Gov. Yahaya Bello.
According to him, the bill establishing the agency was passed into law in November 18, 2018, the State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello assented to the law in April 24, 2019.
He said that the state government was committed politically and financially to the agency as evidenced by the befitting office space, releases for capacity building of the staff, study tour, accreditation of facilities, development of Operation Guidelines for the agency, training of accredited service providers and sensitisation of relevant stakeholders.
Dr. Adekunle stressed further that in the last one year and five months, the agency have been able to develop health programmes to rapidly scale up the health insurance coverage of the residents of Kogi state.
He therefore, urged CSOs, NGOs, individuals, groups, associations, families, philanthropists and well meaning Nigerians to key into the programmes and register their loved ones.
Also speaking, Dr Yetunde Oyeyemi, Head Operations, Standard and Quality Assurance, said that the agency’s core values include: Quality, Transparency, Responsiveness, Accountability, Commitment, Client Satisfaction and Equity.
According to Oyeyemi, the agency is established to regulate, supervise, and ensure the effective administration of Kogi state health insurance scheme.
She highlighted the services of the agency to include general consultants, ante-natal and post-nata care, deliveries, paediatric care, surgeries, ENT & eye care, and dental care services services.
Other are: Emergency care, ultrasound scan, X-ray & laboratory services, orthopaedic care, physiotherapy, skin care services, primary mental care, internal medicine, among others.
In his closing remarks, Mr Adeiza Momoh Jimoh, the Chairman Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ), Kogi chapter, commended the State Government for the establishment of the insurance scheme, while calling for adequate funding and commitment to ensure sustainability.
He further called on the people of the state to take advantage of the health programme, and assured that NUJ would support and ensure adequate media coverage for the agency’s programmes and activities.
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