Date: 2021-02-23

·Our state will be go-to place for best things: AbdulRazaq

Kwara State Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Tuesday flagged off the enrolment of another 21,000 indigent residents of the state to a regime of free healthcare services under the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund Programme - another huge takeaway of the counterpart funds recently paid by the administration.

The flag off, which took place in Ogbondoroko area of Asa local government, came barely six months after the administration onboarded 10,000 vulnerable people into its healthcare insurance scheme.

Beneficiaries of the free healthcare services are spread across the 16 local government areas of the state.

"Today's flag off of the Basic Healthcare Provision Fund Programme in our state is another pointer to the dawn of a new Kwara. Under this programme, 21,000 indigent Kwarans will henceforth benefit from 100% free healthcare services for antenatal, baby delivery, surgeries, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, emergencies, chronic and non-chronic diseases," AbdulRazaq said shortly before handing the cards of the free services to the indigents at an event attended by top government functionaries including Deputy Governor Kayode Alabi and Speaker of the House of Assembly Salihu Yakubu-Danladi.

"This is one of the beautiful fruits of the counterpart funds that we paid and continue to pay since coming on board in 2019. Besides, we were able to key into the BHPF programme because we have made our health insurance active through funding as well as our proactive steps to bring our primary healthcare under one roof.

"On our own (last September), we enrolled 10,000 indigents to the state health insurance scheme while additional 10,000 will be onboarded in the next six months. Added to the 21,000 now being added through the BHPF programme, our administration would have given free access to comprehensive healthcare to at least 41,000 indigents/vulnerable people within a space of nine months. This 100% health subsidy is unprecedented in the history of our state.

"The target of this administration is to make Kwara the go-to destination for qualitative healthcare and other areas. That journey has begun already. Various projects and initiatives are underway to not only restore the glory of the state but to also place Kwara above its peers in the northern region. When our ICU facility is completed at the IGH, it will be the largest and the best in central Nigeria. We are also investing in infrastructure for dental and eye care to best our contemporaries in the region.

"We are doing these for posterity. However, we need the support of everyone to succeed. To make our state great again, everybody has a role to play - government, the masses, and the bureaucracy. I urge all of us to work for a legacy that will outlast us and make life a lot better for the people."

Government officials, health officials and community leaders took turns to commend the Governor for his efforts to reposition Kwara for greatness.