By Sarafa Ibrahim
On August 28, 2025, the trajectory of healthcare delivery was reshaped in Osun state. The new reality is that qualitative healthcare services can be accessed beyond the wall of freedom– that is the Correctional Service. What this mean, in essence, is that prisoners will enjoy their rights to qualitative healthcare just like any other person in the society.
Overtime, many are persuaded by prevailing circumstances to assume that, in addition to the restriction of freedom, prisoners are not entitled to having good healthcare services. But that will no longer be the case, at least in Osun state, as the Osun Health Insurance Agency (OSHIA) will be providing a broad healthcare coverage for every inmates in the state.
That was incredible and anyone who has been to Correctional facilities, and experience first-hand, the debilitating state of health of inmates, will have no much trouble in recognising the significance of the intervention by the OSHIA. While it is true that inmates are serving terms for series of offenses, it does not however preclude them from enjoying certain rights, particularly access to qualitative healthcare services.
This understanding, I presume, informed the decision of the Controller of Corrections Service, Osun Command, Mr. Olalekan Rotimi Oluwadele, to impress on the OSHIA management, led by Dr. Rasaq Akindele, for the inclusion of prisoners in the state’s healthcare insurance scheme.
Speaking at the flag-off of the enrollment of inmates, Mr. Olalekan noted that “Your Excellency, upon my assumption of duty as the State Controller in September 2024, I visited critical stakeholders in the state including the Executive Secretary, Osun Health Insurance Agency, Dr. Rasaq Akindele and I emphasised majorly on the enrollment of our inmates and he promised to discuss with you sir, as a listening Governor, he conveyed your message back to us that you had expressly and graciously approved the enrollment of 1,200 inmates into OHIS, which we are witnessing today.”
Giving the lean resources available to Correctional Service, managing the health of inmates may prove difficult. And the implication of this reality can be telling on the inmates, which could lead to complications in the health or in worse case scenarios, cost some of them their lives. That is the gap that the OHIA will be filling with the enrollment of inmates in Osun state.
The healthcare coverage will provide inmates with a broad access to medical help and ensure that they are not lost to avoidable deaths as was the case before now. To put the intervention in a proper perspective, the healthcare coverage for inmates in Osun state will save life. Before now, inmates go through tough experience to get medical help, and in most cases, too insignificant to resolve their healthcare issues as a result of the lean resources available to Correctional Service.
That experience is what OSHIA will be changing for the better, making sure that not only inmates given access to qualitative healthcare, they will also be able to get drugs at a relatively low price or even free. The healthcare coverage will adequately answer the healthcare needs of inmates and make sure that even though they are receiving punishment for misdeeds, their health does not suffer.
Let us take a moment and be frank with ourselves. Inmates are not aliens but a part of the society that must not be discarded, not minding whatever offences that put them in their current situations. This much was acknowledged by Governor Ademola Adeleke at the flag-off of the enrollment of inmates as he noted that “We (Adeleke government) regard inmates in our correctional facilities as bonafide citizens of the State and of our country. Their healthcare and general wellbeing must remain a matter of priority. As you must all have observed, our administration does not discriminate on any basis; whether political affiliation, tribe, religion or gender, in extending dividends of democracy to all citizens and residents of Osun State.”
That was awesome and speak much about the interest that the Adeleke administration has shown in the healthy living of citizens, irrespective of their situations or status. The healthcare coverage for inmates in Osun state highlights the progress that the OSHIA has made under Dr. Rasaq Akindele, expanding healthcare coverage beyond the wall of freedom.
All the 1,200 inmates in Osun state will enjoy good healthcare services upon presenting their OHIS cards at certified healthcare centres within correctional centres or outside it in Osun state and beyond. Even more, specialized treatment such as surgery will be covered for inmates, making sure that they can get over whatever health challenges they k encounter.
And mind you, the cost for not just medical bills will be covered by the healthcare coverage but also cost of drugs in certified pharmacies. This is what inmates in Osun state will be enjoying going forward. And you know what; Osun is the first state in the whole of Nigeria to do this– a clear demonstration of Governor Adeleke’s commitment to improving the welfare condition of the people of Osun state, which in this instance, are inmates.
- Sarafa Ibrahim writes from Iwo, Osun State.
