The Plateau Executive Council presided over by Gov. Simon Lalong has approved a bill to establish the State Health Insurance Scheme.

Mr Chris Ahmadu, the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, made this known to newsmen after the council meeting in Jos on Wednesday.

The commissioner said that the bill, which would establish a contributory health management agency when passed into law, would also make it compulsory for citizens to subscribe to the scheme.

“Highlights of the contributory scheme is that it will be compulsory for residents of Plateau except those covered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).

”You will appreciate that health is a very important issue but a lot of us without healthcare plan are always running into trouble at moments of ill health.

“This is supposed to be an insurance, once you are a contributor, when you are ill and you go to a care giver you will be treated at a very minimal cost.

“The advantages are enormous, as a beneficiary of NHIS, I can tell you that this is a very fundamental law that will affect the well-being of the people of Plateau.

“For instance, once you are a contributor, if you go to the hospital, if your medical bill is N3,000 you may only pay 10 per cent of it and get treatment,” he explained.

Ahmadu said that they were aware of some teething problems that NHIS went through but were working towards avoiding them.

According to him, the bill is an important piece of legislation that will benefit the people of the state.

Another bill approved by the executive council is the bill establishing the Plateau Specialist Hospital.

Dr Kuden Kamshak, the state Commissioner for Health, also told newsmen that the hospital had existed for several years but did not have a legal framework to back its operation.

Kamshak said that the two health bills were being transmitted to the Plateau House of Assembly for further deliberations and passage into laws.

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Plateau to institute State Health Insurance Scheme