By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State has approved the sum of N327 million to the Plateau State Healthcare Contributory Management Agency (PLASCHEMA), the Director General of Agency (DG) Dr. Agabus Manasseh has said.
The fund is a counterpart support for three years, Manasseh said on Monday during a media engagement in Jos, to elaborate on the successes of the agency and create more awareness on healthcare.
“The Governor has demonstrated support to the agency by approving N327 million as a counterpart fund for three years”, he said.
The DG added that the agency is also working to ensure that it generates more funds to the tune of N170 million from the 17 local governments of the State.
“We expect N170 million which is N10 million each from the 17 local government areas, also, as counterpart funds”, he said.
On the status of enrollment, Manasseh revealed that the scheme has in his database a total of 277,862, registered citizens.
He however noted that the formal sector had the highest enrolment with 124,278 citizens, while the informal Sector had the least with 8,342 enrolment.
According to him: “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 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 enrollment 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.”
He stressed that the contributory healthcare plan was for all public sector employees, including state government, local government and the organised private sector.
He 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.
“We assure you that, as an agency, we won’t relent in our efforts to achieve better and more accessible healthcare for Plateau residents,” he said.
