Judex Òkoro, Calabar
The Cross River State government has disclosed that 196 Primary Health Care Centres will be established across the political wards of the state.
This is aimed at bringing quality and affordable health care services to all parts of the state as well as attaining the universal healthcare coverage.
Speaking on preparation by the government to launch the state’s health insurance at the weekend in Calabar, the Director-General of the Cross River State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, CRSPHCDA, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong, said every resident of the state is expected to pay a thousand naira per month to access quality and affordable health care
She said the scheme, scheduled to take off on the World Health Day which is April 7, would commence first in designated five primary health centres in all the 18 local governments and will be extended to all the political wards in the state.
According to her, “We are going to start with five Primary Health Centers per local government area and it is expected that the 196 wards in the state should have a primary health care centre and that is our target.
“So when we start with these five primary Health Centers per local government area, we intend to scale up to all the wards in the state.
Every resident of the state is expected to pay a thousand naira per month to access quality and affordable health care. It is expected that children between the ages of 1-5, pregnant women as well as the elderly ones will be exempted from monthly payments”, she stated.
She added that once a person registers, there will be a window period of 90 days before enrollees can start accessing care and TPA’s have been engaged to register people in the three senatorial zones of the state.
For the hard-to-reach areas of the state, she said the government will ensure there is a health post in such communities so that residents are not in any way denied access to quality health care services.
According to the DG, health centres can hire any professional they need and will not necessarily depend on the personnel that the government will be providing for the facility
She further said the government is partnering with the Nursing Council as well as some development partners to train hundreds of community nurses who will reside in these centres.