Kwara commends Sterling Bank over partnership on Health Insurance

Kwara State Government has commended Sterling Bank Plc for partnering the state government to actualise the Kwara State Health Insurance Scheme (KSHIS), which was moribund despite its inauguration three years ago.

Governor Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq of Kwara State stated this at the official re-launch of the scheme Ilorin, the state capital recently.

He said the resuscitation of the scheme represents a direct response by the state government to ensure that Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is achieved in the state by 2030, which is access to good health and well-being. He said the scheme will start as a test-run with at least 10,000 indigent citizens from across the 16 local government areas of the state.

The governor noted that the health insurance scheme would boost the life expectancy of the people, promote good health and ultimately strengthen the economy, saying the scheme has the potential to prevent a sudden fall into poverty among indigent people as a result of any unforeseen health crisis.

Speaking on the partnership, Mr Emmanuel Emefienim, Executive Director of Institutional Banking, Sterling Bank, said the bank decided to partner with Kwara State Government as part of its commitment to the development of the health sector, which is one of its focus areas.

According to Emefienim, the bank is focusing investments on five sectors of the economy, including Health, Education, Agriculture, Renewable Energy and Transportation (HEART) to make an impact on the Nigerian economy.

“Sterling Bank is working with Kwara State Government to pioneer a truly inclusive healthcare delivery model. There is no better time to do that than now”, he said.

Also speaking, Executive Secretary of the Kwara State Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Olubunmi Jetawo-Winter lauded Sterling Bank for providing the financial the support that enabled the agency to engage consultants, including Exaro Solutions and CarePay, to develop an automated registration module that will be used to capture the needed health data of residents in the state for the purpose of enrolling them into the scheme.

She observed that the interface between Exaro and CarePay platforms provided a state-of-the-art registration, enrolment and administration platform that is transparent and seamless, thus providing an eased customer experience. She added that through the support of Sterling Bank, the agency now owns adequate hardware for administering enumeration across the state.