By Anne Azuka
The Director General Delta State Contributory Health Commission(DSCHC), Dr. Isaac Akpoveta has said that 1.8 million Deltans have been enrolled in the State health insurance, the highest in the country and followed by Lagos.
Dr. Akpoveta disclosed this in Asaba when the President Association of Resident Doctors, Federal Medical Centre Asaba led executive members on a courtesy visit in his office.
Akpoveta therefore, appealed to well-meaning Deltans, including all doctors to atleast adopt one to five persons by paying for their health insurance and send them to the hospitals.
According to him, reach out to the indigent people in your locality and pay for their yearly health insurance of N7,000 each.
Director General listed the State Contributory Health Insurance Scheme plan to include services to Maternal & New Born Healthcare, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Laboratory Investigation, Eye Care, Dental Care, amongst others.
“As a practicing and experienced doctor, I know what you are going through. Since many doctors have left the country, what can we do? We need to put in our best.
“We realized that we had some challenges, especially those in the informal sector, because some complained that they were not satisfied with the treatment being given to them.
“We have investigated the reason and we can’t put the blame on you.
“First is, acute shortage of manpower. I have seen one doctor attending to about 200 patients waiting outside.
“Government is aware of that and we will see what government will do to remedy that situation”, Akpoveta noted.
He further urged a few remaining Doctors in the country to try their best in attending to patients, saying ” don’t transfer your aggression of your tiredness, of being overwork and of your Managing Director not employing enough doctors to the patients”.
He however, advised the doctors to treat with care those that enrolled in Health Insurance especially under age children and pregnant mothers whose medical bills are being paid by government.
“Please ensure they get what they want and we also need you to talk to yourselves to adopt what is called “adoption programme”. We want you to take five to ten persons at seven thousand naira each year for Health Insurance.
“That way, they shall call you if doctors are not managing them well. Then, you can appeal to your colleagues to treat them well and when they hear your voice, they will do it.
“Once you give us the names you will adopt, we go to your villages to find them. That is what I want, hopefully by the end of this year, we will get that from you”, DG posited.
He expressed the need to have more people in health insurance to have a universal health coverage, adding that there is need for financial management to be comfortable with what is available.
“The Commission is in between the people and the Health Insurance and without doctors and health workers, there will be no health insurance. Health care financing aimed at efficiency is the Hallmark of health insurance ”
Earlier, the President Association of Resident Doctors, Federal Medical Centre(FMC) Asaba, Dr. Kenneth Okolie had intimated the DG of their this year’s forthcoming Annual General meeting activities lined up from Monday December 11 to Sunday December 15, beginning with the Doctors Reach Out Programme(TDROP).
Okolie explained that the TDROP programme is aimed at reaching out and given alms to patients and community at large as well as settling the medical bills of indigent people.
The President appealed to the DG to be their Team Speaker during the opening ceremony with the title; ” Managing Financial Crisis, the Way Forward as a Doctor”, saying that his choice is because of his wealth of experience in public and private as well as feats recorded so far.
He said that the Association was very interested in the activities of the Commission, and thanked him for support given to the Association so far.
