Jame Abraham
The Director General of the Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency, Dr Agabus Manasseh, has revealed that the contributory healthcare enrolment scheme for citizens has increased to 277,862.
He disclosed this on Monday during a media engagement to enhance public health in the state
Manasseh noted that the formal sector had the highest enrolment with 124,278 citizens, while the informal sector had the least with 8,342 enrolment.
He said, “The government is determined more than ever to eliminate the healthcare barriers usually encountered by people within the vulnerable groups (the equity plan) and the informal sector, which constitutes over 70 per cent of the population in the hard-to-reach areas, hence the establishment of the Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency, PLASCHEMA.
“With increased Government spending on health, we envision a significantly healthy population with enormous economic benefits, thereby underscoring the saying that health is wealth.
“The current enrolment status has risen to 277,862 from the total figure of 110,158, which was as of June 2023. Our target is to increase the figure by 20 per cent annually in line with our five-year development plan for the agency.”
The Director General stressed that the contributory healthcare plan was for all public sector employees, including state government, local government and the organised private sector.
Manasseh called on the residents in the informal sector, such as traders, farmers, artisans, public and private primary school pupils, students of public and private secondary schools and students of tertiary institutions, including community-based Social Health insurance schemes, to enrol for the scheme to enable them access quality health care.
He added, “The state governor, Barrister Caleb Mutfwang, has demonstrated support to the agency by approving N327 million as a counterpart fund for three years. We expect N170 million and N10 million each from the 17 local government Areas as counterpart funds.
“We assure you that, as an agency, we won’t relent in our efforts to achieve better and more accessible healthcare for Plateau residents.”
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