Admin     Oct 4, 2022

Gombe State Government has reached an agreement with the Nigeria Labour Congress – the umbrella body of over 40 trade unions in the state for the commencement of the State-owned social security scheme – the State Contributory Healthcare Scheme (GoHealth). This was revealed by the state Commissioner for Health Dr Habu Dahiru during a press briefing at the end of the meeting between representatives of the State Govt. led by the Secretary to the State Government Prof. Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi and the Nigeria Labour Congress led by its Secretary Comrade Shuaibu Chiroma.

According to the agreement reached, the scheme will start with all workers on the state payroll first while Local Govt employees will join the scheme later. Both the government and the employees shall be contributing 3.5% of their salaries into the Contributory Health Fund (CHF) created to pool resources from where all beneficiaries’ medical bills would be paid. Accordingly, all workers shall be enrolled into the scheme alongside a spouse and 4 biological children below the age of 18 years.

The Team Lead of GoHealth Dr Abubakar Musa described the agreement reached as a significant milestone in the state’s journey towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). He explained that GoHealth is a brain child of His Excellency Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, the Governor of Gombe State in his effort towards ensuring all citizens of the state have access to needed health services without suffering financial hardship due to huge medical bills. 

Responding to journalists on the readiness of the scheme, Dr. Abubakar Musa revealed that the present administration of Gov. Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has established the Gombe State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency to manage the scheme in line with international best practices. He also revealed that all the 114 recently revitalized PHCs across the state have been accredited by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) last month. He further added that the agency is also preparing to accredit private health facilities across the state to serve as health care providers to the beneficiaries of the scheme thereby introducing healthy competition between public and private health providers in the state.

On behalf of Congress Chair, Com. Shuaibu Ciroma applauded Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya administration for coming up with a brilliant social scheme like this and assured the government of NLC’s full support in ensuring the successful implementation of the scheme in Gombe State.