Raging questions over Kano health care agency

I hope it will reach the table of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje that most of Kano state civil servants are not comfortable with the current development that followed the payment of this month’s salary.
The main motive that provoked me to offer this probono publico service is, despite the agonizing pain occasioned by economic hardships that people are writhing in an anguish of, Kano State civil servants must have to bear the brunt of finding a considerable amount of reductions from their respective measly salaries.
The rate of the deduction ranges from lower level to upward. Some under Grade level (08) received their salaries with almost N3000 reductions. Others in the next levels found a considerable shortfall of 4000, up to 10,000 reductions from their monthly payment. In sum, the rate of deduction rises up based on grade level you belong to. While most of the civil servants welcomed the Governor Ganduje’s gesture of enrolling them into Kano State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (KSCHMA,) as justifiable reason given by government for these deductions, the state civil servants bitterly complained of being forced to pay KSCHMA a sizeable amount of money since before service delivery.
Again, if this scheme is a copycat of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the amount being deducted for Kano State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency is unbearable for many civil servants. Their salaries cannot afford to pay this kind of intolerable deductions. To most of the civil servants, if Kano State government insists on forcefully enrolling every Kano Civil Servant into this healthcare system, it will be fair and just to reduce the rate of the reduction. Additionally, since enrolment into KSCHMA is not mandatory for every servant, if we take into account the recent hues and cries of Kano State public servants as a result of the recent reductions, I advise Kano state government to allow people to choose whether to register themselves into the scheme or not?
Alternatively, doing this, will aid government’s decision in engaging people that are interested to be registered into the scheme. But I consider it draconic to continue with the reductions without seeking the civil servants consent. That’s why it becomes expedient to caution government to rescind these unfair deductions, or at least reduce the weight of the amount and find a balanced and suitable way for implementing this policy that’s new to Kano public servants

Abbas Datti,
Kano

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