Ogun State Deputy Governor, Engr. Noimot Salako-Oyedele, has sought the support of members of the Islamic Medical Association of Nigeria (IMAN), Ogun State Chapter, on more advocacy and enlightenment programmes for Ogun State Health Insurance Scheme (OGHIS), so as to collectively spread the information to citizens of the state.

Engr. Salako-Oyedele stated this while receiving members of the Association, led by its Amir/ Chairman, Dr. Ibrahim Opeewe. who were on a courtesy visit to her office at Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, stressing the need for more collaborations with the state government, in order to make the health sector an enviable one.

She expressed government's appreciation to individuals, organisations and associations for supporting and sharing the vision of "Building Our Future Together" agenda of the present administration, saying government alone cannot provide the wherewithal for its citizenry.

"I want to commend you for your social programmes such as, health care screening, as well as your collaboration with government medical agencies and to tell you that as government, we appreciate every support we get to reach out to our people because there are two issues here; one is the availability of healthcare and the second is for our people to use it. We still have a lot of disinformation among our people and skepticism, so the way you manage information is very important", she said.

According to her, "there is a lot of skepticism among our people and cost factor. What to pay at the point of health delivery can also cause people not to seek the right medical attention. On that one I would like you to do a little bit of advocacy on behalf of government on the Health Insurance Scheme which government has established so that people can start to use it and also see the benefit of not paying at the point of health delivery".

While commending the association for its support to humanity through various programmes, the deputy governor tasked members of the Association to do more of mentoring and capacity building such as, career progression, spiritual benefits and networking for members, to encourage more medical personnel to join them.

Earlier in his remarks, Dr. Opeewe commended the state government for the development in the health sector, expressing the association's determination to continue to support various government’s health programmes.

He highlighted the visions of the Association to include, capacity building for medical personnel both at the state and federal government health facilities, public enlightenment on health matters and Ibadah friendly health services, among others.