USAID donates 13 sets of ICT devices and equipments to PLACHEMA 

By Ezekiel Dontinna 

   The United States Agency International Development (USAID), through its In-Kind Grant, USAID Local Health System Sustainability Project (LHSS), has procured and donated 13 sets of ICT enrollment devices and equipment to Plateau State Contributory Healthcare Management Agency (PLSCHEMA).

     Presenting the devices/equipment yesterday, at the PLACHEMA Corporate headquarters in Jos, the State capital, the USAID LHSS Chief Party, Dr. Bolanle Olusola-Faleye, noted that the gesture was to address the urgent need to expand PLASCHEMA’s ICT capacity for remote and onsite enrollment.

     “Currently, the Agency has only four sets of these ICT devices to cover its entire operations across 17 LGAs. Despite this limitation, PLASCHEMA has successfully enrolled over 150,000 individuals. 

    “However, this only represents about 3.3 % of the state’s projected population of 4,600,000 leaving a significant portion of the population uninsured. 

   “With the intending implementation of mandatory health insurance, this gap in coverage poses a critical challenge to achieving universal health coverage (UHC) in the state, hence this complementing efforts”, She disclosed.

     Earlier, the Director General of PLASCHEMA, Dr. Agabus Nangfwang Manasseh, commended USAID for this great gesture noting that, their partnership with the LHSS project has greatly enabled them to strengthen their systems. 

    He, listed some of the strategic partnerships they have enjoyed with the LHSS to include: the quarterly enrolee townhall meetings that helps them in mobilizing Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) enrolees across the 325 public PHCs where they access care.

   The devices and equipment donated included: 13 Samsung Galaxy Tablets for capturing beneficiary sociodemographic data; 13 Signature pads for capturing beneficiary electronic signature and 13 Fingerprint Device for capturing beneficiary fingerprints respectively.

      Other equipment donated were: 17 portable solar charger power banks to charge enrollment devices; 3 Identity Card Dual-side Printing Machine to print enrollment cards and over 20,000 pieces of Glossy white blank waterproof Identity (ID) Card to print enrollment cards for beneficiaries in that order.

      There were words of appreciation from the representative of the SGS, Commissioner of Health and that of ES Primary Healthcare Board respectively.