Published on 16.03.2022 at 01:25 by AFP
The General Mutual of Private Media Agents of Côte d’Ivoire (MS-Médias) launched, on Tuesday in Abidjan, the 2nd edition of the initiative “a journalist, a health check-up” whose objective is to enlist more than 600 members. On March 15, the General Mutual Fund for Private Media Agents in Côte d’Ivoire (MS-Médias) officially started the operation with independent journalists who were able to benefit from free consultations.
According to Cissé Sindou, Chairman of the Board of Directors of MS-Médias, as part of this prevention policy, medical teams will go to newsrooms to reach as many people as possible.
In his speech, Mr. Cissé underlined that “the analysis of the financial statements (of the MS-Médias) reveals that among the determining parameters of the evolution of health expenditure, we note the high number of serious chronic diseases and expensive”.
For some members, he said, the support amounts to more than 3 million CFA francs. An amount higher than the annual family ceiling set by the scale of benefits. The individual ceiling is also exceeded by others with medical costs between 1.5 and 3 million CFA francs.
Strategies should therefore be put in place to “preserve the physical health of mutual members and the financial health of the mutual”, explained the Chairman of the Board of Directors of MS-Médias.
It is in this perspective that the 2nd edition of the operation “a journalist, a health check” is inscribed. In total, more than 600 subscribers are targeted, but the MS-Médias wishes in the future “to extend this number to spouses, spouses and children” with the help of partners, indicated Cissé Sindou.
In the same vein, the General Mutual of Private Media Agents of Côte d’Ivoire plans to collaborate with the National Institute of Public Hygiene to organize vaccination campaigns for mutual members and their families.
Presiding over the launch ceremony on behalf of Amadou Coulibaly, Minister of Communication, Media and La Francophonie, Yéo Brahima, his chief of staff, affirmed that “journalists and communication professionals in good health, is the assurance of having access to reliable, consolidated, sourced, verified information that allows us to live in harmony”.
For his part, Professor Mamadou Samba, Director General of Health, congratulated the MS-Médias for this initiative which, he will mention, “helps reduce health costs”.
Sponsor of the ceremony, Mr. Samba reacted to a request from the MS-Media to facilitate relations with certain health structures: “I can tell you that, in a very short time, you will have a return on your request”.
Eight medical examinations are selected for the 2nd edition of the “one journalist, one health check” operation which ends on March 31, 2022. These are urea, blood sugar, total cholesterol, creatinine , complete blood count (full blood test), transaminases, uricemia, PSA (screening for prostate cancer for men over 45) and mammography (for women over 45 years old).
That’s four more reviews than the previous edition. This one, carried out in 2018, saw the participation of 304 people. Placed on the baptismal font in February 2017, the MS-Médias aims to be a tool of solidarity at the service of journalists and private media agents in Côte d’Ivoire. Health insurance, its first product, came into effect on January 1, 2018. A solidarity fund and a real estate project constitute the other two.