Mutual Benefits Assurance offered free insurance coverage to no fewer than 640 staffers of Environmental Health Council of Nigeria (EHCON) and 361 students of College of Health Technology.
Dr Baba Yakubu, Registrar of EHCON said this at the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation for Insurance Support Scheme between the council and the organisation on Friday in Abuja.
Yakubu, who described the intervention as life saving said the insurance coverage was to consolidate on the gains of the council’s rebranding process of the practice of environmental health in the country.
The registrar said that based on the MoU, the organisation would cater for medical treatment of the council’s staffers that had an accident or death in the course of duty at no cost to it.
He further identified the intervention as a new dawn in the history of the council and a win-win situation..
“This is the first time a corporate entity is bringing to the council to offer insurance to the entire staffers at no cost to the council.
“We have looked at this as a solution to the major problem we are having because we have lost a number of our staffers in the course of their daily activities as a result of accident.
“This intervention will bring a lot of relief to the council instead of running helter-skelter in search of funds to settle medical bills of staffers involved in an accident in the course of their duty.
“So, the company will come at the critical hours, these are hours that fall between life and death, because if action is not taken between this period, one may lose his life,’’ he said.
Yakubu said that the scheme would as well give 50 per cent coverage to 361 students of Colleges of Health Technology.
According to him, the council needs to extend the package to more over 40,000 students at the field.
Dr Akin Ogunbiyi, Group Chairman of the organisation said the intervention was targeted at the council based on the hazards encountered by its staffers in the course of carrying out their duties.
Ogunbiyi explained that the insurance benefits would be three times the annual salary of the beneficiaries.
He further said that the organisation would incorporate medical tourism for the staffers under the executive management cadre in the event of such requirements.
Ogunbiyi added: “We are not investing anything new because we already have a licence to do anything insurance in Nigeria.
“But, basically this is an innovative approach to add value to what EHCON is doing.
“A lot of things happen to the council members when on official duty and they find it difficult getting funds to cushion the effects of such challenges.
“Whether you are a junior staffer or a director, if anything happens, the benefit they will get is three times their annual salary.
“Eventually if death occurs, but if there is no death, we provide medical treatment.”
Source: News Agency of Nigeria