Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Tomi Coker, has lamented the low enrollment rate of the state’s Health Insurance Scheme, particularly from the formal sector.
The commissioner, who spoke at the breakdown of the state’s 2024 budget on Monday in Abeokuta, stated that the current enrollment of 150,000 people in Ogun represented two per cent of its population.
He said it indicated a need for increased awareness and uptake of the health insurance scheme.
Coker stressed the need for broader participation in the scheme to ensure that residents have access to comprehensive healthcare coverage.
According to rereports that the state governor, Dapo Abiodun had in November 2023 presented a budget of N703.03 billion to the House of Assembly and subsequently assented to.
According to the commissioner, since the health insurance was launched by the state government, it had only enrolled 150,000 persons, out of which 90,000 were from the informal sector.
To address the challenges around low enrollment, Coker added that the ministry had initiated measures to drive greater participation from the formal sector, while hoping for an improved performance in 2024.
“Since the health insurance was launched by His Excellency, the governor, in 2022, we have only enrolled 65,000 in the formal sector. However, the informal sector which we haven’t even launched is engaging more, having enrolled like 90,000 people, making about 150,000 Ogun state residents.
“We’re having challenges with the formal sector, which are the unions. We try to encourage them and we’ve met with them severally; they’ve asked us to change the law to reinvest the money, so that when it’s deducted from their salaries, the money goes straight to the scheme,” he said.