The Minister of Information and Communication Infrastructure Mr Ebrima Sillah has announced that plans are on the way to introduce a National Health Insurance Scheme aimed to help “reduce the burden of out-of-pocket expenditure by patients and to protect households from high spending”.
The minister said this during his 15th weekly press conference on November 2020, when he highlighted major activities of various ministries in government.
The Health Insurance Scheme is in the form of a bill and according to Minister Sillah it has been presented before Parliament for approval and enactment. “The Bill establishes a National Health Insurance Authority to implement a Health Insurance Scheme with a fund which will pay for the cost of health care services of the members of the scheme. In addition, provisions are made for a private health insurance scheme,” he explained.
He noted that the effort by the government to establish a National Health Insurance Scheme “is hailed as a significant milestone to ensure citizens have access to effective healthcare within the health delivery system”.
The minister went on: “Persons under five years of age, pensioners, categories of persons living with disability, persons with mental illness, persons above the age of 65, persons in need of antenatal delivery and post natal health care services are exempted from payment of contributions under the National Health Insurance Scheme”.
Other developments in other ministries as highlighted by the Information and Communication minister include his own ministry’s efforts to have the Information and Communication (IC) Act amended - the Information and Communications (Amendment) Bill 2020.
The IC Act 2009 was part of the set of prohibitive legacy laws enacted by the former government specifically targeting the media and media practitioners.
“The Bill which seeks to create the enabling environment for freedom of expression and media development in The Gambia, was formulated through an exhaustive consultative process where a Media Law Review Committee was set up by the Ministry of Information and Communication Infrastructure in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice and Article 19 in 2018."
As part of efforts to enhance sports development at local level and to decentralize sporting activities, the Hon Minister of Youth and Sports recently laid the foundation stone for the construction of two mini stadia in Kafuta, in the West Coast Region and Fulabantang, in the Central River Region.
The construction of both mini stedia which cost 14.7 million Dalasis are funded entirely by the Government of The Gambia. The two mini stedia will have standard football pitches, borehole, changing rooms, perimeter fence, admin offices, toilets, guard and shower rooms. Both stadia will benefit from a pavilion to be constructed in the second phase of the project.
In orders to build the skills of local people in the project areas, young people will be hired as contract employees for the construction works. It is hoped that the construction of the two mini stadia and other sporting facilities being built around the country, will contribute immensely to the transformation of sports at the grassroots level.
The Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure (MoTWI), in partnership with relevant stakeholders in the transport sector, has started a road safety survey as part of efforts to improve road safety standards and to minimize accidents on the roads. The survey which is in phases, started in the Greater Banjul Area and West Coast Region. Other regions of the country will be surveyed later.
Different categories of road users such as commercial drivers, private drivers, pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists are being targeted on the importance of observing road safety rules and related matters.
This program is part of the road safety policy of The Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure which is embedded in The National Transport Policy, 2018 to 2027.
At the end of the exercise, it is expected that the The Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure will have a greater understanding on safety institutional management issues in The Gambia, as well as the need to constitute a road safety working group, road safety committee and a road safety unit within the Ministry in the short term.
The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, through the Directorate of Development Planning, recently conducted a nationwide sensitization and consultation tour to discuss the Voluntary National Review of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Covid-19 impacts on The Gambian economy.
The Consultations were meant to gauge the level of implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in a bid to ascertain the level of progress registered, challenges encountered, development initiatives at community levels, and the way forward through: National outreach with Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Private Sector and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), persons with disabilities, local government authorities and community radio stations.
As part of the consultations, discussions were conducted on the mid term evaluation of the National Development Plan (NDP) which is geared towards establishing a degree of fulfillment of Strategic Priorities and critical Enablers, examining the financing of the NDP to date, detailing associated weaknesses and opportunities of adopted resource mobilization approaches. The nationwide sensitization and consultation tour also availed the Ministry of Finance the opportunity to assess the initial impact of COVID-19 on the implementation and attainment of the NDP objectives. The data and issues that emerged during the tour are being alaysed for informed decision making by the Ministry of Finance.