The Health Insurance Agency of the State of Cross River (CRSHIA) is ready to address systemic health gaps, particularly maternal and infant mortality, through a two -day capacity construction workshop for the Governing Board and management staff in Calabar.
The workshop, which brought together the key interested parties of the states of Cross River and Ebonyi, focused on the topic 'daring to transform: build a health system that puts people before politics'.
Its objective was to promote collaboration, strengthen institutional frameworks and prioritize citizens' health on political convenience.
In his opening comments, Chief Godwin Iyala, general director of the Cross River State Health Agency, highlighted the agency's progress and its role as a center of innovative health insurance ideas during the launch of a training program for its Board and Management Team. Iyala expressed his appreciation for the support of Governor Bassey Otu and the vision of positioning Cross River as a reference point for health insurance in Nigeria.
He stressed the importance of the continuous workshop of capacity construction, which presents the main experts in the industry as facilitators, encouraging participants to absorb the information and apply it to feed the development of the agency. Iyala concluded by emphasizing the shared responsibility to raise the agency and improve the lives of citizens through efficient health insurance practices.
In a powerful call to action that combines the vision of policy with moral urgency, Rt. Excmo Hilary Bisong, president of the Health Committee of the House of Representatives, House of Assembly of the State of Cross River, declared that “health is not a privilege, it is a right.”
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Bisong urged participants to overcome bureaucracy and brief political cycles to build a resistant and people -centered health insurance system.
He said: “We must dare to transform. Not only through policies, but through systems that deliver, in a considerable, transparent and equitable way.”
Drawing lessons of global examples such as Rwanda, Taiwan, Ghana and Indonesia, Bisong described a six pillars strategy for the transformation of sustainable medical care in the state of Cross River. These included: community property, fair and scalable financing, digital transformation, transparent leadership structures, professional development and oerformance monitoring.
In a strong position against the politicization of medical care, he emphasized: “Health is life. And life is sacred. A health insurance system should never be politicized.”
Also speaking at the event, Hon. Barr. Elizabeth Ogechi Ogbaga, president of the Ebonyi State Board of Health Board, emphasized the importance of interstate collaboration. “We are here for cross pollination of ideas,” he said. “Our challenges are similar: maternal deaths, infant mortality, lack of access. We must treat this as an emergency.”
Ogbaga emphasized that such forums allow a strategic alignment and shared solutions in all state lines, adding that socialization among agency's leaders is crucial for long -term cooperation and confidence.
The workshop indicates a growing recognition among subnational actors in Nigeria that health reforms must be focused on people, driven by politically evidence and isolated to have a sustainable impact.
The observers praised the workshop as a historical event that could lay the foundations for a new model of subnational cooperation in health governance, one that places the welfare of citizens in the public policy center.
With the commitment expressed by the key actors, there is a renewed hope that the states of Cross River and Ebonyi can arise as pioneers to achieve universal health coverage in Nigeria.
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