60plus Advocacy Initiative has commenced a project to register needy elderlies for the ‘Ilera Eko’ health insurance scheme in Lagos State, southwest Nigeria.
The non-governmental organisation (NGO), in partnership with the Lagos State Health Management Agency (LASHMA), seeks to draw attention to the plight of elderlies.
The government of Lagos State launched the ‘Ilera Eko’ health insurance scheme with a view to achieving universal health coverage for all residents of the state.
According to convener of the 60plus Advocacy Initiative project, Modupe Fashina, the partnership with the Lagos government’s ‘Ilera Eko’ aims to ensure that needy elderlies also enjoy the benefits of the scheme.
‘I had an experience with my late father who suffered a stroke in his old age with no one to cater for him’, she said.
‘He lived at Ife, Osun State, and so I shuttled between Lagos and Ife for five years, every Friday, because all his children had left home.
‘He passed on but I realised that old people are always alone, and when you visit them, especially in the morning, you find them sitting and watching the television, but how many of them even have the sight to watch the television.
‘That is why 60plus is trying to sensitise people more and work with organisations, to bring attention to the plights of the aged.
‘Africa is friendly to old people, but the struggle for survival has limited people’s ability to care for the aged.
‘That is why 60plus is sponsoring the indigents among these to register for the ‘Ilera Eko’ health insurance scheme so that they can also enjoy the benefits therein’.
Chairman of the NGO’s Governing Council, Adeyinka Obalade, said 60plus Advocacy Initiative would be assisting needy elderlies to access free health care in any hospital of their choice.
‘We also will monitor how they are getting service for whatever we have paid, but we will continue to sponsor and also mobilise people to sponsor’, he said.
Health care services covered under the scheme include outpatient care for common ailments and conditions; maternal, newborn and child care; access to family planning counseling and services; and management of uncomplicated chronic diseases.
Under the scheme, the premium for a family of six is N40,000 per annum, while N8,500 is for individuals within the same period.
Source: 60plus Advocacy Initiative
Photo source: 60plus Advocacy Initiative
