Ultimate Health management service is making moves to provide about 100,000 rural women in Nigeria with health insurance.
The Organization hopes to capture more women into the scheme after the commencement of the first phase which would capture 100,000.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the organisation, Otunba Lekan Ewenla said the organisation is partnering with Unity bank Nigeria which would be providing small loans for micro and medium small businesses in addition to the health insurance scheme across the country.
He said to achieve that, the are working with the Association of Nigeria Women Business Network (ANWBN), an organisation that comprises of about 75 women groups across the country with a membership of over four million.
The MD said this at ANWBN’s 2023 summit/10th anniversary that took place in Abuja.
Ewenla said, “The need for us to begin to systematically drive the new law to make health insurance mandatory for Nigerians and to expose Nigerians or begin to achieve the need for us to change the narration of our health indices this in this country.
“Ultimate is partnering with the Association of over 75 of women groups with a membership that runs in four to five million women. We want to rule to start with 100,000 women from this programme. And that is the first phase, we are driving this enrollment process or this insurance programme In partnership with Unity bank, so the moment a woman opens an account with Unity bank, ultimate provides health insurance programme for that woman to drive the process such that they will continue to be well and alive to to drive their business and also grow the economy.
“As we speak, data from the National Bureau of Statistics reveals that 15% of Nigerians are about are those working in the formal sector and the remaining 85% Nigerians are in the informal sector and spread across everywhere. Majority of them are women in the rural areas. So our mandates is to focus more on the informal sector because that is where we have the bulk of Nigerians doing their daily business, having their subsistence income and are exposed to harsh weather.
“So our main focus as an HMO that has been licenced to drive health insurance for Nigerians in this country is to meticulously drive the enrollments of the so called identified people in the informal sector, on the health insurance net so that they can be well and alive to do their business and to also begin to enjoy affordable health care.
“What we are driving with them is a product of 20,000, Basic Plan of 15,000 added with group life policy, that is worth almost 1 million. The partnership with Unity bank provides soft loans for women engaged in micro, small and medium scale businesses across the nation. So it was on the basis of providing the fund that we backed it up with health insurance.
“The uniqueness of this programme stemmed from the fact that there is a partner of us who has secured funding from Switzerland for the direct enrollment of these women on this programme, so the premium for this exercise programme is going to be paid directly by our partners into the National Health Insurance authorities account and the women would start paying the premium instalmentally through their accounts in Unity bank.”
On her part, the National Coordinator ANWBN said, “One of the things we’re looking at is that every woman should be a global participants in the economy. And so we’re pushing exports. That’s great for us. Another thing we’re looking at is that it is a healthy woman that can make money. And so the NHIA act that has made health insurance compulsory in the country. We have made plans to campaign for women so they can pay at their convenience every month.
“Most women we work with are in the rural areas and can bearly afford N15,000 for medical attention so we are saying look, the payment has been done for you have access to health, you must never be sick, you must be able to go to the hospital and have no problem and then you can pay conveniently every month. It’s 800 Naira now so that’s easy for them.
“We are also launching our ecommerce platform where we showcase our women from those producing food, to processesing and packaging to showcase to the entire world and we can get markets for them and working with partner financial institutions, to see how they can give startup capital at single digit interest rates.”
This article was originally published in The Nation Newspaper by Grace Obike
