by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
About 107,873 persons have benefited from Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (PLASCHEMA), for the inclusive Participation in Health Insurance.
Speaking during a recent Media interface in Jos, the Plateau State capital, Mr. Solomon Kwakfut of the PLASCHEMA said it was an indication of a paradigm shift by the agency to “de-emphasize PLASCHEMA and emphasize health insurance,” especially among the rural populace.
According to him, without purposeful communication, it cannot be meaningful development in society, because there is the need for a communication model that is participatory.
Also speaking earlier, the Director-General of PLASCHEMA, Dr. Jemchang Fabong, disclosed that, the agency thought it wise that decentralization of information is the best way to inclusion, saying, “Exclusion of the media has a backlash as far as the attainment of universal health coverage is concerned. The media occupies a central place in ensuring universal health coverage.”
During the interface, participants dissolved in syndicate groups to brainstorm and bring up innovations on how to harness and adequately utilize the various media platforms, including the traditional and the new media for effective decentralization of information on access to health services.
The PLASCHEMA effort is to ensure that no one is left behind towards achieving universal health coverage and provision of quality and affordable healthcare services whenever the need arises.
The Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency has sustained its periodic interface with the media, one of its key stakeholders, with the aim of decentralizing information to rural communities using the various media of mass communication in the state.
Our correspondent reports that, the 2023 first-quarter Interface with Newsmen drawn across the print and electronic media, participants emphasized on the need to decentralize information on healthcare to the grassroots to enable inhabitants become more aware of how and where to access health care whenever the need arises.
The theme of the interface, ‘Decentralizing Information for Inclusive Participation in Health Insurance,’ encouraged participants to also recommend the use of approaches in decentralizing information on inclusive participation in accessing health insurance.
As a corporate body established by Plateau State Government, PLASCHEMA was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that all residents of the state have access to needed promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services so as to ensure that they do not suffer financial hardship when paying for services.
The Director of News and Current Affairs, Plateau Radio Television Corporation, Mr. Yakubu Taddy, noted that, for universal health coverage to be achieved, information on health must be disseminated down to the lowest level in society.
He broadly observed that, lack of adequate information on healthcare has resulted in more people resorting to traditional medicine, hesitancy and reluctance of rural dwellers to positive changes in healthcare delivery, including health insurance.
