The Contributory Healthcare Insurance Scheme in Jigawa has began with the enrollment of 200,000 beneficiaries made up of 40,000 civil servants, their families and dependents.
Gov. Muhammad Badaru, while inaugurating the scheme in Dutse on Monday, said that the state had already accessed N500 million for the forward health insurance gateway.
Badaru said the establishment of the Jigawa Contributory Health Management Agency (JICHMA) was significant, considering its importance in the management of the state healthcare service coverage.
He said that his administration has taken healthcare service delivery very seriously, adding that it had allocated an average of 15 per cent of its annual budget to health sector since 2016.
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The governor also announced that in the last four years his administration has been increasing funding for maternal and child healthcare service from N15 million to N75 million on a fivefold increase from N180 to N900 million annually.
According to him, pregnant women and children under the age of five, and accident victims are also covered by the government healthcare service delivery system across the 287 political wards in the state.
Dr Ibrahim Kazaure, the Executive Secretary of JICHMA, said that a total of 39,000 civil servants were enrolled together with their families and dependents numbering 195,541 as at Nov. 18.