The Edo State Health Insurance Commission has called on residents to take proactive and preventive measures against Hypertension, a disease widely referred to as a silent killer.
The Head Planning Research and Statistics Edo State Health Insurance Commission, Dr Omorogbe Stephen Of the Edo Health Insurance Commission made the call during a sensitization workshop at the New Era Primary Health Center, called on residents to imbibe a general health living to avoid triggering the illness.
Dr Omorogbe noted with dismay the increasing number of people including young people who just pass away as a result of not knowing that their Blood Pressure had increased beyond normal.
Dr. Omorogbe called on residents to prioritize Resting and exercise to relax the body, as well as avoid excessive intake of Alcohol and Salt as preventive measures against the illness.
According the him, “we have organized this stakeholders engagement today to commemorate world Hypertension day to highlight the need for stakeholders to underline the need to disseminate information on how to prevent Hypertension which has been referred to as a silent killer. The reason why the is pertinent is because increasingly, we are seeing cases of people who slump and die, who have cardiac issues without even knowing, so there is the need for us to let people know that attention must be paid to preventive measures, such as regular exercise, managing stress, reduction in intake of Salt and Alcohol and regular checks of blood pressure and essentially, ensure that the wellbeing of our people is paramount in our minds at all times.”
The Commission also used to medium to sensitize the people on the benefits of enrolling in the insurance scheme while guarantees the subsidized or free health care for a special category of citizens.
“The Edo state Health Insurance Commission has a broad spectrum of Health Plans which Carters for people from all works of life. We also have Equity plan to take care of people who are considered vulnerable. So what we are doing here today is to determine those who have the financial power to buy plans, as well as those who does not have to financial power to buy a plan. Those persons fall within the category of children under 5, the Elderly, Pregnant women, those who are living with any form of disability and indigent people. We enroll them under our equity plans which are funded by the federal and state governments.”
Some of the beneficiary of the free medical outreach praised the government for the initiative noting that it cost them a lot to get what they were offered free at the outreach.
The Edo State Health Insurance Commission also carried out similar outreach and free screening at Igueben in Edo Central and Fugar in Edo North.
