The Kwara State Health Insurance Agency has expanded its reach by inaugurating a regional office in Kaiama, Kaiama Local Government Area.

According to Leadership, this new office, located at the Kaiama General Hospital, aims to bring affordable and accessible healthcare services to the grassroots.

Leadership reported on the inauguration ceremony, where the Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Olubunmi Jetawo-Winter, assured residents of adequate coverage under the scheme.

She described social health insurance as a vital financing vehicle to subsidise health services and ensure equitable access for all segments of the population, regardless of socio-economic status.

“Social health insurance not only seeks to create demand, but also helps to improve the quality of services, through our stringent assessment and accreditation process of health facilities and providers, ahead of being empaneled into our pool of healthcare providers under the scheme.

“As part of our strategies to ensure that access, and availability of healthcare services are made convenient for beneficiaries, the agency has decided to open regional offices in areas that are far away from our head office in Ilorin, to feed into our hub (Central Office) in Ilorin,” she said.

She said the agency plans to open five branch offices in Kaiama, Baruten, Edu, Offa, and Irepodun local government areas, out of which three have now been opened, including Kaiama.

“These regional offices will provide the same services to the people in these catchment areas, just as we would provide from our office in Ilorin. At these regional spokes, potential beneficiaries can register for health insurance, enroll, make inquiries, address complaints and concerns, and offer other services.

“As you all know, our operations are carried out on a digital platform that allows real time delivery of our services, and information collected are registered on our central database. We also like to use these engagements to familiarise ourselves with the communities, and be better acquainted with common practices.

“We understand that because health insurance provision to the populace in Nigeria is still a very new initiative, we have an arduous task ahead of us to ensure that every resident of Kwara is familiar with the concept of health insurance, and understand the benefits that would accrue to them once they enroll.

“We will not stop or relent in our efforts to ensure that Kwara State attains universal health coverage by ensuring that every household has a health insurance cover to protect them from any catastrophic spending as a result of an illness,” she said.