Subscription to the community-based health insurance scheme, Mutuelle de Santé, has reached 79 per cent, up from 63 per cent in the last three months, The New Times has learnt.

Officials at the Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) who announced the new subscription rate, last week, have described it as a sign of hope that Mutuelle de Santé will bounce back to high subscription levels after it had been marred with falling subscriptions in the last three years.

The country’s community-based health insurance (CBHI) scheme covers the majority of Rwandans, and especially targets peasants in rural areas.

With a subscription rate to Mutuelle de Santé of only 63 per cent, RSSB launched a three-month campaign in September to sensitise more people to join the scheme, targeting to realise 100 per cent subscription rate by December.

"It was a successful campaign even if we didn’t achieve the target,” said Déogratias Ntigurirwa, division manager for CBHI mobilisation and registration at RSSB.

His deputy in charge of mobilisation, Pierre Claver Nzahumunyurwa, agreed that the campaign was a success.

"Having attracted 16 per cent more subscriptions in three months means that the campaign was not a failure,” he said.

The three-month awareness campaign was conducted through community meetings, media, as well as taking registration services for the scheme closer to the people.

Ntigurirwa and Nzahumunyurwa said challenges to the campaign remained some people’s mentality, who still don’t understand that they have to spend on health insurance.

"It’s not easy for people to release money. It has to be a constant challenge to convince them but we will keep educating them so they can change their mindset,” Ntigurirwa said.

Highest in three years

The 79 per cent subscription rate to Mutuelle de Santé is higher than in the previous two financial years, but still lower than in the years before 2013.

An estimated 75 per cent of Rwandans subscribed to Mutuelle de Santé for their health insurance in the last Financial Year 2014/15, up from 73 per cent in the Financial Year 2013/14.

That was down from 80.7 per cent and 90.7 per cent in the Financial Years 2012/13 and 2011/12, respectively.

But the current level of subscription to Mutuelle de Santé is a source of hope for RSSB officials that future subscriptions to the scheme will be higher as a result of longer campaigns to change people’s attitude towards health insurance.

"It really gives hope for future subscriptions; it’s a good thing,” Ntigurirwa said of the 79 per cent subscription rate.

RSSB took over the management of Mutuelle de Santé in July, last year, as part of a solution to respond to the dip in subscriptions to the scheme and poor management of its funds.

The two flaws had led to debts and poor service delivery to subscribers because they couldn’t access services such as the medicine they needed from hospitals and pharmacies in the country.

RSSB officials say they will attract people back to the scheme by improving its financial management which is critical in the running of the fund and paying hospitals and pharmacies on time.

Subscription to Mutuelle de Santé is paid every year and expires at the end of the country’s fiscal year in June.