Less than a half of Rwandans who use Mutuelle de santé have so far paid their fees for this fiscal year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic that has eroded some people’s incomes.

According to figures from Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB), so far only 44 per cent of the subscribers to the community-based health insurance have paid their premiums.

The fiscal year commenced on July 1, and the deadline to pay was June 30.

Mutuelle de santé is the country’s largest insurance scheme, catering for healthcare service needs of 88 per cent of Rwanda’s 12 million people.

Every year, the government pays Rwf2,000 subsidy to the scheme for each needy person in the first Ubudehe category.

On the other side, the second and third categories cover their fees with Rwf3,000 as the final category pays Rwf7,000.

A total of 1,196,287 families, which comprise of 5,298,984 people have so far paid their community-based health insurance fees.

Although this reflects an improvement of 0.4 per cent compared to last year where payments were a bit lower, RSSB says that the pandemic has continued to affect the pace at which people contribute to the scheme.

A combination of lockdowns and other Covid related movement restrictions have weighed down on people’s incomes.

The leading district in payments is Gisagara, followed by Nyaruguru and Ruhango in the Southern province while Kirehe in the East and Gakenke in the North follow the trend.

This makes the three Southern province districts among the top five qualifies the province to shine out among the other four.

Kicukiro, Nyarugenge, Rusizi and Gasabo districts in the capital city are the worst performing.

Commenting on the figures, Deogratias Ntigurirwa, the Mobilisation and Registration Division Manager, called upon the population to pay the premiums because diseases are unpredictable.

"Diseases do not warn, so people should be prepared ahead of time,” he told The New Times in a telephone interview.

Ntigurirwa also says that the payment process has been eased.

"People can pay through community Savings and Credit Cooperatives through Irembo platform or through a (mobile phone) USSD code *909#”, he concluded.