The Chief of Karu, His Royal Highness Emmanuel Yepwi, has called on residents of Karu, a community in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), to embrace the FCT Health Insurance Scheme (FHIS).
This is contained in a statement signed and issued to reporters on Sunday by Mr David Baru, Head of the Public Relations Unit, FHIS.
It stated that the appeal was made during an advocacy visit to the palace of Chief of Karu by officials of the scheme.
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The statement stated that the chief directed all the districts and village heads in the community to lead the campaign and ensure that all their families enrolled on the scheme.
He told them to ensure that eligible community members registered and derived benefits from the fact scheme.
Yepwi said that the premiums required by the FHIS was nothing to compare to the benefits enrollees would enjoy when they fell sick, adding that it would also end the complaints they always made to him when they were sick.
“All of you are always running to me each time your family member is sick, and this is the end.
“If you don’t register, you are on your own. N13,500 is ok for all of you here, and even if you don’t pay at once, there’s room for instalment payment through the FCT Microfinance bank.
Yepwi advised traditional rulers and the families who were frequent visitors to hospitals in a year to embrace the scheme instead of borrowing money to do all that was not necessary.
“All of us here that are always falling seek, or our children, I think we should take a look at this healthcare service, because, before I can help you, you have to show me that you have registered with FHIS.
He commended the FHIS for setting up an office in Karu and urged it to ensure that the Karu General Hospital was up and running so that his people could benefit from it.
“The facility we have in Karu here, no hospital in the FCT has it, and it is just lying fallow for this long and becoming obsolete.
“I will talk to the Medical Director again to pass our message to the FCT Minister to make this hospital functional.
The statement also quoted the Director in charge of FHIS, Dr Ahmed Danfulani, as telling the chief and his cabinet that the team were in the palace to inform the people about the benefits of health insurance scheme.
Danfulani, represented by Baru, added that FHIS was also at the palace to sensitise the people to Basic Health Care Provision Funds (BHCPF) and urged them to take advantage of the health insurance scheme since the office was now in Karu.
“We are the FHIS, our mandate, though broad, but it is straightforward, we want to make FCT residents have access to quality healthcare at a very affordable rate.
“To achieve this, we have two main sectors of enrolment, which are the formal and informal sectors.
“The formal sector is what most of you know; that is public servants, government workers and organised private sectors such as banks and big companies.
“These categories of workers have their premium removed at source from their salaries monthly.
“However, most Nigerians don’t belong to the formal sector, so the FHIS has a plan to cover Nigerians who do not belong to the formal sector.
“With only N13,500 per annum, an individual from the informal sector will enjoy full healthcare benefits that are enjoyed by those that fall in the formal sector.
“They include free births, caesarean section hospitalisation for up to 21 days,” Danfulani said.
A member of the FHIS team, Mrs Blessing Ticky, also informed the chief and his cabinet that FHIS had signed an MOU with the FCT Microfinance Bank (FCTMFB) enrollees to pay on an instalment basis.
She said that the instalment payment was designed for people who might not pay the sum of N13 500 at a go.
“For example, if six of you approach FCTMFB as a group, you will receive a discount from the bank, and of course, the more, the merrier.
“So it is advisable to approach the bank as an association or a union,” Ricky said.
Mrs Geraldine Iheanacho, another FHIS official, described the location of the FHIS office in the premises of the Karu General Hospital for easy enrolment and access. (NAN)
