At least 30 football club owners in Anambra state were on Friday, enrolled into the Anambra state Health Insurance Agency (ASHIA), a scheme mandated by law to provide ‘quality, equitable, affordable and accessible’ healthcare to the populace.
The beneficiaries, Blueprint learnt, were sponsored by Dr Emeka Okeke led caretaker committee executive of Anambra State Football Association (AnFA), in line with his promise during inauguration.
Speaking at the event held at the FA office in Awka, the state capital, the Caretaker Committee Chairman, Dr Emeka Okeke, explained that club owners were first to be enrolled because they are at forefront of promoting sports in the state.
Okeke, who assured that players would equally be enrolled into the scheme in future, disclosed that maintaining proper health would help to prevent injuries as well as engender hardworking among them, adding that the project was in line with international best practices and NFF specifications.
On his part, the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Willie Obiano on Health Insurance and Pension matters, Hon. Dozie Okpalaugo, explained that enrollees would henceforth be eligible to access free health care at any hospital of their choice within Anambra.
Okpalaugo, who said that over 350 hospitals and many pharmaceutical centres in the state have been certified by the agency to provide the services to every enrollee across the nooks and crannies of the state, added that beneficiaries could only pay ten per cent of charge of any drug prescription they bought.
He commended the AnFA for footing the bills, which according to him cost N12,000 per a person, stressing optimism that players would be enrolled in nearest future in line with governor Willie Obiano’s dream to reposition sports.
Speaking in an interview, some of the beneficiaries, Mr Ikenna Osuke and Mr Olisa Onuchukwu, expressed happiness over the development, and called for extension of tenure of the caretaker committee with a view to enabling them execute their programmes including the conduct of FA election as mandated upon inauguration.
