Over 100 persons in the New Benin area in Benin City in Edo State have benefited from a medical outreach organised by the Edo State Health Insurance Commission to mark this year’s World Hypertension Day on Saturday.
The Commission also used the opportunity to enrol the majority of the attendees into the Edo State Health Insurance Scheme. Those who benefitted included the elderly, indigent, physically challenged and financially incapable persons.
Speaking at the event, the Head of Planning, Research and Statistics of the EDOHIC, Dr Stephen Omorogbe, said the event was to create awareness among the people on the danger of hypertension and advocate preventive medical care.
He said, “This outreach is pertinent because we see cases of people who just slump and die, people who have cardiac issues without knowing and there is a need for us to let the people know that attention must be paid to their health.
He said the EDOHIC has about 300,000 people that have enrolled into the scheme making it one of the fastest growing insurance schemes in the country.
He gave a breakdown of the various categories of the scheme to include the Bronze plan of N18,000 annually, the Silver plan of N35,000, the Gold plan of N68,000 and the Enhanced plan of N78,000.
He said the commission is also designing plans for others and has an equity plan which caters for the vulnerable.
