A cross section of Patigi residents, Kwara North Local Government Council on Saturday, lauded activities of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at creating avenues for improving healthcare for all.

They spoke in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Patigi on Friday.

NAN recalls that the Community Based Health Insurance Scheme (CBSHIP) was launched in Patigi to give cover to people at the grassroots.

Alhaji Usman Ndalolo, a community leader, said that the launch of the scheme would enable more residents of the community have improved access to healthcare services.

He said that the significance of this programme could not be over emphasised as it would improve the quality of health care services to both high and low income earners.

According to Ndalolo, ''we are optimistic that this scheme will give equal opportunity to access treatment in our locality.''

''Indeed, this timely intervention of the NHIS is highly commendable most especially with the present inflationary trend and low income that have continued to plague our community.

''The good people of Patigi are proud to be associated with this scheme, am highly optimistic that the entire nooks and crannies of Patigi Local Governmentarea will surely embrace the programme."

Ndalolo called for more enlightenment so that more lives would be reached.

Another resident, Alhaji Yusuf Chatta, said that Patigi residents were duty bound to be interested in the scheme.

He said that the scheme would help in strengthening primary health care centre in the community.

''The local government is duty bound to be interested in any venture that will improve lives of persons at the grassroots."

Chatta called for inclusion of persons with disability as they were mostly excluded from issues of development.

NAN reports that the scheme was established under Act 35 of 1999 by the Federal Government to provide easy access to healthcare for Nigerians at affordable costs through various prepayment systems.

NAN quotes Dr Abdulrahman Sambo, NHIS Acting Executive Secretary as saying that more than 4.7 million Nigerians in the formal sector accessed healthcare services in its six years of existence.

Sambo said that the beneficiaries included 98 per cent of government employees.

He said that government was doing all in its capacity to ensure that all Nigerians had easy access to healthcare.

The NHIS chief said that more than 1.6 million pregnant women and childrenunder five were covered in the Maternal and Child Health project in some states.