The Rivers State Contributory Health Protection Programme (RIVCHPP) has reiterated its stance to flush out beneficiaries of the scheme who did not enrol with their National Identification Numbers (NIN).
Executive Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the RIVCHPP, Dr. Vetty Agala, who disclosed this while addressing the management team in her office in Port Harcourt, said from the onset that the office was aware of the provision of NIN as a prerequisite for registration.
She noted that the office only relaxed the condition to give opportunity for more residents to be part of the programme.
Dr. Agala clarified, “RIVCHPP is being supervised by National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), which has emphasised the need for the provision of NIN by all Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) enrollees”, warning that beneficiaries who cannot provide their NIN would be removed from the BHCPF package of its programme by the end of September, 2025.
The Executive Secretary also stated that payments of monthly stipends to enrolment officers will be based on the number of beneficiaries who enrolled with their NIN, saying, “tell the enrolment officers that vulnerable persons who are registered without NIN are considered as ghosts by NHIA who provides the BHCPF. We can’t pay them for supplying us ghosts as our enrollees, ” she warned.
She urged enrolment officers to desist from enrolling persons that do not fall into the criteria of vulnerable persons, as outlined by RIVCHPP, stressing that any officer found culpable will be shown the exit door.
” There are criteria that qualify persons as vulnerable. They are the ones to enjoy the free healthcare services of the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF). But we have noticed that some enrolment officers now register people who are not within the set criteria being registered as vulnerable persons. Interested persons who are not vulnerable should pay and be registered in the other packages of the programme. Enrolment officers who persist in doing the wrong thing will be asked to leave the work, ” RIVCHPP’s Executive Secretary admonished.
Agala, however, pleaded with individuals, groups, and organisations to help people around them, especially the aged, children believe 5 years, and ithers, without NIN to get theirs in order to continue to benefit from the robust and quality programmes of RIVCHPP.
