By: Valentine Adese (JP),
As the Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (PLASCHEMA) continues in its quest to improve the healthcare of lots of the citizens in the State and beyond, Journalists covering the Health Sector, have advised the Agency to improve on its advocacy approaches.
This advice was given, during a Focus Group Discussion Guide, organized by the Agency at the Press Center of the Plateau State Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) today, the 30th of December, 2022.
The Journalists led by Journalist Pam Musa, who took time to assess and rate the services provided by PLASCHEMA, gave strong commendations to the Agency, while also advising the Agency to expand its promotional activities to more media houses in the state in order to gain the needed effectiveness.
According to the line of discussion, the Journalists held that, this would encourage more people to buy into the scheme, “considering the existing competition within the Insurance and Health Industry”.
The Journalists present at the round table discussion, which includes Prince Valentine Adese (JP) of REALITY Newspaper, further called on PLASCHEMA to provide more information concerning the scheme to enable subscribers or Registered People know more of their rights.
Addressing most of the fears and worries expressed by the Journalists, PLASCHEMA Research and Planning team, led by Mr. Mafeng Musa, told the gathering that, most subscribers or Registered people have not taken time to read their hand notes hence, they have not come to understand the scheme and its procedures properly.
He said, the services provided by PLASCHEMA are within the state for now because of the current procedures, but that the scheme has an initiative tagged, “Health Insurance Under One Roof”, that allows subscribers to get Healthcare service across the state.
According to Mr. Mafeng, “In Plateau State, there is an Emergency Healthcare Program, which allows registered people under the scheme to visit any PLASCHEMA facility in the state”.
Concerning the Rights of Subscribers or Registered People, the Team Lead, Mr. Mafeng, called on them to always ask for information concerning any procedure for clarity.
He disclosed that, there is a Basic Minimum Package of healthcare services that are provided for under PLASCHEMA and people who visit these facilities need to know that. Therefore, as a right, these registered people must know by asking for clarifications on which services are fully or partially covered.
Adding that, “These Registered people must ask, as of Right, to be provided the list of Pharmacies, if need be, and must ask for refund where money is wrongly paid by complaining first, to PLASCHEMA’s office”.
TO BE CONTINUED…