By Pat Gbemudu
ASABA/Nigeria: The Director-General/CEO of the Delta State Contributory Health Commission, Olorogun Dr. Isaac Akpoveta has said that the commission is ready to collaborate with Amalgamated Commercial Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association of Nigeria (ACOMORAN) to provide access to quality and affordable healthcare for their members.

The DG stated this while receiving the leaders of ACOMORAN., recently in his office.

Dr. Akpoveta informed the association that the DSCHC has an ongoing initiative called the Artisan Enrollee Inducement Initiative which enables artisans like the members of ACOMORAN to have access to health insurance.

The DG stated that the commission, in collaboration with banks, has made provision for soft loans for artisans, allowing them to pay health insurance premiums in daily installments as low as N100 for 90 days. This arrangement will enable them to receive care even before the payment is completed.

Dr Akpoveta, while emphasizing the benefits of health insurance for ACOMORAN, stated that the Commission already has a provision in place for artisans in the state, which is the Informal plan. He buttressed that the artisans, who form what is called the “grey economy”, account for well-over 60% of the income of the country and as such are a very powerful sector of the economy.

He also stressed the need to always have the health insurance cover as that will allow them to receive emergency care in any hospital under the scheme, highlighting the importance of emergency care due to the risk of accidents within the profession.

According to the DG, the Artisan Enrollee Inducement Initiative is one of the ongoing efforts by the Commission to increase the number of enrollees in the scheme, thereby creating more access to quality and affordable healthcare for all Deltans. Adding that other initiatives include the Tertiary Institutions Social Health Insurance Program, aimed at students in tertiary institutions; the Indigent Enrollee Adoption Initiative, through which well-meaning Deltans, both at home and abroad, to purchase health insurance premiums for the state’s indigent population; and the Access-to-Finance initiative, which provides healthcare for residents in remote areas of Delta State.

Earlier, the state chairman of ACOMORAN, Comrade Augustine Erhinyoja, advocated that the association be integrated into the health insurance scheme at the Delta state level. He said that most of their members are vulnerable and prone to health challenges due to the nature of the work they do, and based on that, they are here today to see how this association can be integrated into this health scheme.

He further stated that a major part of the duties of ACOMORAN is to protect, promote and guide the interests of her members, and as such, this partnership is very important and much needed by the association, adding that the health of their members is paramount for them.