Dr Fabong Yildam, the Director General of the Plateau State Contributory Health Care
Management Agency (PLASCHEMA), says the state government is set to launch its health insurance scheme by September.
Yildam made this known on Tuesday at a one-day meeting on advocacy and health insurance for community-based stakeholders in Jos.
The programme was organised in partnership with Nigeria Health Watch.
He said that the scheme, which would be launched in first week of September, would see the governor as the first to enroll.
He added that PLASCHEMA was 98 per cent ready for the launch, which was geared toward ensuring Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
The director general said that the essence of the meeting was to bring gatekeepers at the community level to ensure participation of the
informal sector and build the confidence of residents for its success.
He said “we want to involve the informal sector to a large extent because we believe 70 per cent of the population are in the informal sector.”
He added that the stakeholders were critical to the success of the scheme, saying community sensitisation and mobilisation were being organised
to educate communities on the benefits of the scheme.
The director said that the target of the scheme was to ensure all residents of Plateau participated in it within a short time.
According to the PLASCHEMA boss, the insurance has four plans namely the equity plan, formal sector, informal sector and the private sector plan.
He noted that the scheme would include the use of Information Communication Technology to ensure access to telemedicine for prompt response,
saying it also has 24 hours open line for interaction.
The Programme Manager of Nigeria Health Watch, Mrs Dara Ajala-Damisa, said that the meeting was also to train members of community-based
organisations to advocate for adoption of the health insurance scheme in their communities through their influences.
She said the training, funded by Christian Aid Nigeria, was to advocate for access to improved healthcare without financial hardship for people in the informal sector.
“These people are the foot soldiers who will go into homes, talk to associations, networks, Churches to advocate for health insurance as
effective alternative to out-of-pocket payment for healthcare,” she said.
She explained that the training was geared toward ensuring understanding of the components of healthcare, where the structure allows for payment
of treatment in installments to forestall medical complications caused by financial hardship.
A participant from Quan’an pan Local Government Area, Mr Sauki Emmanuel, said meetings would be organised with stakeholders such as women,
youth and political groups on the benefits of enrolling in the scheme.
He expressed optimism that community members would respond positively to the scheme established in 2019.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the scheme was established by the administration of Gov. Simon Lalong to reduce out of pocket
expenditure on health, and to deliver on the mandate of UHC.
It was also established to ensure adequate distribution of healthcare facilities across the 17 local governments of Plateau.
