OYSHIA to revisit enrollment of commercial drivers, riders into health insurance scheme

By Emmanuel Adeleke

The Executive Secretary of Oyo State Health Insurance Agency (OYSHIA), Dr Sola Akande, has said the agency is planning to revisit the enrollment of commercial drivers and riders into state’s health insurance scheme.

The OYSHIA boss disclosed this while featuring on a radio programme in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital at the weekend.

His words: “One of the levels that OYSHIA want to go to now is to revisit our enrollment of transporters, riders, tricycles, vehicles into Oyo State Health Insurance Scheme. Especially with the new effort of the Oyo State Government to reposition the Park Management System (PMS); I think one of the things we want to put into this arrangement is to see how we can get them insurance, because that will begin to make that informal sector a formal sector.

“You know we can have an informal sector formalised and one of the ways to get them formalised and organised is actually to begin to think health insurance for them and one of the ways you can bring dignitaries to that profession is to ensure that their family have some level of health protection. We are not only thinking about them, we are actually thinking about their family, the dependent. Is it possible to buy transport members, union members, PMS members into health insurance and their dependents?”

“That is the area we want to begin to interrogate. We know again that, most of the time, they don’t go to hospital, even some of them when they know they have taken in and they know that they are not feeling fine, you will see them get to the road side and use all these local concoction which eventually will destroy their kidneys and liver, because they are running against making certain amount of money on daily basis and spare some time to go to the hospital.

“So, we want to meet them, considering that their narratives around their jobs and we are thinking again that we can have what looks like a side clinic in major parks around the state. That, if we eventually get them into health insurance, it will increase utilisation, at least basic check up. If we have a side clinic, it will begin to change the culture, attitude and orientation rather than taking alcohol before getting behind the wheels,” he added.