By Aduragbemi Omiyale
No fewer than 352 Nigerians, who are mainly underprivileged individuals, have been enrolled on annual health insurance plans by employees of Keystone Bank Limited.
The enrolment was done through The Health Insurance Project of the bank’s Employees Volunteering Scheme (EVS) designed to address the need for accessibility to quality healthcare by vulnerable Nigerians.
The beneficiaries were drawn from Abeokuta (Ogun State), Ibadan (Oyo State), Ilesha (Osun State), Nyanya (Abuja) and Yenagoa (Bayelsa State).
The EVS is an integral part of the lender’s corporate social responsibility strategy which encourages its workers to be involved in voluntary socially impactful activities. The scheme leverages Keystone Bank employees’ skills, time, and donations to positively impact the social needs of the communities where it operates.
Speaking about the importance of easy access to quality healthcare, the Divisional Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Keystone Bank, Ms Izore Bamawo, expressed the need for Nigerians to be enrolled on health insurance schemes as a way of improving access to healthcare and reducing poverty.
“According to statistics, about 97% of Nigerians are not enrolled on any form of health insurance. Without a doubt, the high levels of poverty and the reliance on out-of-pocket payments for healthcare is a challenge which has plagued the accessibility to quality and affordable healthcare.
“The lack of health insurance has further plunged Nigerians into poverty due to the exorbitant and sometimes unexpected healthcare bills which have negatively impacted on the access to healthcare by millions of Nigerians,” she said.
“Hence, Keystone Bank’s employees embarked on this initiative as a means of improving the access to quality healthcare amongst vulnerable Nigerians. The financial burden of healthcare bills has been lifted off these individuals,” Ms Bamawo added.
Adedapo Adesanya