By Samuel Adegoke
The Executive Secretary, Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA), Dr Sola Akande, has advised residents of the state against taking drugs to address common ailments without consulting medical practitioners.
He said many people are fond of the practice, which is popularly known as self-medication, as a way to save cost of medical care, pointing out that it is dangerous to human health. He warned that self medication can be counterproductive by causing great damage to one’s health, adding that treating such will attract higher cost at later time.
Akande emphasised that enrolling for insurance scheme with a paltry sum of N8,000 per annum makes much sense than patronising neighbourhood patient medicine stores where they offer them combined drugs at affordable price several times a year. He argued that the cost of such drugs, which is dangerous on the one hand, can even be higher than N8,000 in a year.
But by enrolling for just N8,000 a year, Akande said enrollees will enjoy the benefits of having qualified medical health workers attend to them in addition to diagnosis that will help determine the nature of the ailment and degree of seriousness.
“You see, it is actually cheaper and much better to subscribe to health insurance for just N8,000 than going for combined drugs (akanpo) many times a year. The combined drugs (akanpo) are depositing some disasters in your system gradually until the bubble bursts one day. That time you will possibly need a lot of money to treat yourself even after certain damage has been done. Your system may not be the same again,” he said.
Under the insurance scheme, Akande said enrollees are free to access free medical check up anytime in the year to help determine their medical need.
He explained that their offices are open to people making enquiries.
NIGERIA 
