Dutse: The Jigawa Government says it has commenced enrolling 400 political appointees in the state health insurance scheme.
Mr Ismaila Ibrahim, the Public Relations Officer of the Office of the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), issued this statement on Friday in Dutse.
Ibrahim said the SSG, Mr Bala Ibrahim-Mamsa, officially inaugurated the enrollment of the appointees into the Jigawa State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (JICHMA) in his office.
According to the PRO, Ibrahim-Mamsa emphasised that the initiative will strengthen the scheme to enhance universal health coverage for all state citizens.
The SSG highlighted that the State Executive Council had approved the inclusion of all political office holders in the health scheme and added that the law establishing JICHMA had been amended to facilitate the exercise.
He urged all political appointees in the state to enrol in the scheme within the designated time frame.
The SSG and Chief of Staff to Gov. Umar Namadi, Mujitaba Muhammad, were the first to enrol, setting the stage for the exercise.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health, Dr Kabiru Ibrahim, highlighted that the exercise would provide essential healthcare services to the state’s vulnerable population.
Ibrahim said that JICHMA had enrolled 500 vulnerable persons from each of the state’s 287 wards in the scheme.
He said the beneficiaries were selected digitally at the ward level, with their profiles recorded in a central database.
Also, the agency’s Executive Secretary, Pharm. Hamza Maigari, assured that arrangements for enrolling all the political appointees had been concluded.
Margari, however, appealed to the SSG to ensure that all political appointees participated in the exercise.
He said that the enrollment exercise would occur across the state’s 27 local government areas.