Dr Ben Egbo, Consultant Radiologist, Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), has admonished Plateau citizens to adopt the Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (PLASCHEMA) for affordable access to healthcare.
He made the call on Sunday during a medical outreach organized by the National Association of Seadogs (NAS) at an IDP camp in Riyom, Jos South Local Council Area of the state.
The outreach, tagged “Weekend of Service to humanity”, was part of activities to mark the 70th anniversary of the association which is also known as Pyrates Confraternity.
Gov. Simon Lalong had in 2019, established the Plateau State Contributory Health Care Management Agency (PLASCHEMA) to reduce the financial burden of accessing quality health care through the Health Insurance Scheme.
Dr Egbo, who is also a member of NAS, called on the Plateau people to take advantage of the affordable access to healthcare provided by the government’s initiative with PLASCHEMA.
While attending to a wide range of health challenges during the outreach, he noted that though healthcare indices in the state were poor, the majority of citizens could access quality healthcare through the contributory scheme.
He noted that the state government had done well in establishing the scheme but it was up to the citizens to adopt it and make life easier for themselves.
“I have to congratulate Plateau State for setting up the PLASCHEMA; it is part of our duty to encourage people to key into it, because it gives some basic health care provisions.
“Especially for those ones that are from the lower socio-economic class to be able to benefit from basic healthcare services at very minimal costs.
He said it was the principle of health care insurance.
“So as much as we advise the government to increase spending, we will also have to tell the people their own duties and responsibilities; they should key to it.
“For those in public service, it is automatic, but for those in the private practice like the farmers, the traders and others, there’s need for a lot of awareness.
“It is cheaper for you to pay N3000 per month and access treatment than for you to go and pay N30,000 when you go to the hospital on admission or in critical conditions,” he said.
Egbo, who had earlier called on government to open more Colleges of Nursing, Medicine and Health Technology in the state, said it was not enough to build hospitals without the skilled personnel to run them.
He therefore called on governments and all parties involved to “join hands and invest more on healthcare in the country for the sake of the poor” he said.
Similarly, Dr Jones Okoye, The Chairman of the Plateau Chapter of NAS, said government should rise up to its responsibilities in terms of provision of basic amenities for its citizenry.
He added that there was no better religious practice than for persons to look out for each other which is what the association had chosen to do with the Internally Displaced Persons.
“You see, government needs to first of all realize that we are first humans before they got selected to be leaders, it is the same blood that runs in all of us, wether they are religious leaders, political leaders or community leaders.
“What we need is for every human to have a heart for humanity; we need to do what is good for humanity, so government should be responsible for its citizenry.
“People should learn to give back to humanity; I don’t think there’s any religion that doesn’t know that, your immediate community is the God you are seeing, if your community needs your attention give it that attention” he said
NAS is a Nigerian charitable and humanitarian organization and is also the registered name for the group known as the Pyrates Confraternity, established in 1952.
