Plateau State has set a target of enrolling 500,000 residents in its health insurance scheme by next year, and eventually one million, as part of an expanded push to extend healthcare access to underserved rural and informal-sector residents.

State Commissioner for Health Nicholas Ba’amlong disclosed the figures at a Community-Based Health Insurance (CBHI) workshop in Jos, noting that enrolment has already grown from fewer than 100,000 beneficiaries in 2023 to nearly 350,000. He said the targets aligned with Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s “The Time Is Now” healthcare agenda.

The workshop closed with calls for sustained community sensitisation, stronger financial accountability, better coordination between primary and secondary healthcare facilities, and greater involvement of traditional institutions, women, youth and diaspora groups in boosting enrolment toward the targets.

To help drive the scheme, the Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (PLASCHEMA) inaugurated a State-Level Task Team under the Expanded Mutfwang Care programme, with Director General Kwande Solomon Dawal describing it as a milestone in the transition from policy development to implementation.

The committee, which will serve an initial one-year term subject to review, is drawn from government agencies, development partners, professional bodies and civil society groups, including the Plateau Primary Health Care Board, Hospitals Management Board, Drugs and Medical Commodities Management Agency, PLASEMSAS, the National Health Insurance Authority, the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the World Health Organization, the state Ministry of Health, the state Bureau of Statistics, and religious and traditional institution representatives. (The Nation)