Stakeholders Raise Concern As TB Cracks Cross River

By Godwin Ajom 

The Cross River State Health Insurance Agency has disclosed that the agency has insurance cover for Tuberculosis (TB) patients and survivors in the State as part of its efforts to combat the disease.

TB currently is running an estimated 4 deaths daily and 1,460 deaths annually. Health experts say it might be depleting the health system in the State with 7, 833 cases recorded between second quarter 2023 to second quarter 2024.

Data released from Project Alert and presented by Centre for Health Works Development and Research Initiative (CHEDRES) to the Cross River State Health insurance agency in Calabar, said TB if not checked might affect more people in the coming months.

In second quarter of 2023, 1,532 cases of TB were recorded in the state. Third quarter had 1,389 while fourth quarter 1,681. Similarly in 2024, the first quarter recorded 1,565 cases while the second quarter recorded 1,666. Muscling a total of 7,833 cases.

The major challenge in curbing the diseases as affirmed by both government and nongovernmental sources is finance. While there have been budgetary allocations consistently for the disease, records from the Budget Performance Reports show that the Cross River State Government has not invested financially in curbing the disease for about a decade.

According to the World Health Organization WHO, an estimated 268 deaths occur in Nigeria at the national level, while at the sub-national levels, 4 deaths occur from Tuberculosis in Cross River each day. With the need to tackle the disease, Cross River State government has budgeted N32 million jointly for tuberculosis, pyloric ulcer and leprosy.

In an advocacy visit to the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency,  the Executive Director of CHEDRES Mr. Felix Ukam, appealed that “TB patients and survivors in Cross River State, should be covered by the Cross River State Health Insurance Agency, through the community health insurance.”

He decried the level of damage the disease has done saying that, “We’re asking that TB patients and survivors should be mainstreamed into the state health insurance scheme. Over the years, no money from the State Government has ever been spent on the fight against TB. We need some domestic investments by the state in the fight against TB,” he urged.

Responding, Godwin Iyala, the Director General of the State Health Insurance Agency affirmed that, “What we do in Health insurance is to take care of your health, by getting from the rich to take care of the poor and the needy who include TB patients and survivors. We’ve been mindful of the spread of Tubaculosis in Cross River State and Nigeria at large, especially with the statistics you have read here today.”

The DG assured that, “If you check other states, you may not see such development. we’ll help in domestic resource mobilization, through one of our programs. As we insure TB patients, we’re going to empower them to access services from facilities controlled by the Primary Healthcare Development Agency and the secondary care. Patients should go to the hospital to be properly tested.”