Kwara State "Shonga" Community Health Insurance Scheme, operated by the Hygeia Community Health Care and PharmAccess Foundation, has benefitted over 112,000 people in the grassroots areas of the state in the last five years.

Speaking with journalists on the fifth anniversary of the scheme in Ilorin, the Managing Director of the Hygeia Company, Peju Adenusi, said 79,000 people from Edu Local Government Authority (LGA) and 33,000 from Asa council area had benefitted, adding that currently, the scheme has 63,000 people of Kwara (36,000 in Edu LGA and 27,000 in Asa LGA) active on the scheme.

Adenusi, who said the scheme was the first of the Dutch Health Insurance Fund subsidised community schemes implemented in Kwara and Lagos states, added that the scheme provided low income communities with equitable access to affordable and quality healthcare services.

"In Kwara, the community health insurance schemes are promoted by Hygeia Nigeria Limited, in conjunction with PharmAccess Foundation; a Dutch NGO with the financial support of the Dutch Health Insurance Fund and the Kwara State government.

"Medical care is provided through contracted private and public hospitals and clinics within the target communities.

The popularity of the scheme is evidenced by the cumulative re-enrolment rate of 80 per cent in Asa LGA.

Also speaking, a private health provider in the scheme and the owner of a private hospital, Dr. Dele Ibrahim, said Kwara enrollees had made about 250,000 visits to the participating hospitals to receive health care services for a variety of medical conditions, all at no out-of-pocket costs to the beneficiaries as the hospitals were paid through financing received from the scheme.

Dr. Ibrahim also said that about 65 per cent of these visits were made by women and children, adding that hospital visits by enrollees were largely for malaria (27%); antenatal care (16%), hypertension (12%), upper respiratory tract infections (13%); and musculoskeletal pains (8%); conditions which they would previously have had to pay for on out-of-pocket bases or present to alternative health care practitioners and in some instances, without appropriate health care intervention these conditions may have led to significant morbidity or mortality.

"To ensure the delivery of quality health care services at selected hospitals, the Kwara State government and the Dutch Health Insurance Fund have made significant contributions towards their infrastructure and equipment upgrade.