Cross River receives implementation plan for state health insurance scheme

The Cross River Government says it will soon commence full implementation of the State Health Insurance Scheme (SHIS) to make healthcare delivery accessible to the people.

The State Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mrs Rosemary Archibong, made this known on Monday after receiving the draft copy of the implementation plan for the scheme.

An NGO, Health, Finance and Governance, presented the implementation plan to the state government through the commissioner in Calabar.

Archibong, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Aye Henshaw, thanked the NGO and their partners, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), for producing the document.

“I thank you so much for this document which, I am sure was painstakingly done.

“I have hope that this document will guide the state government in making healthcare delivery very accessible to the people.

“Health Finance and Governance has always shown us the way to follow.

“We are going to look at the document critically and I assure you that we will implement it for the benefit of the people,’’ she said.

Also, Mr Godwin Iyala, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Insurance, said: “We are at the point of flagging off the scheme by the governor and implementation will commence immediately.

“We have selected three Primary Healthcare centres in each local government area and equipped them as a take-off points, while we continue working on others across the state,’’ he said.

The representative of Health, Finance and Governance, Mr Somtochukwu Mbelu, thanked the state government for appointing the organisation as its guide.

Mbelu urged operators of the project to make full and proper use of the document to achieve maximum result.