Unpatriotic NHIS service providers urged to change attitude

The first Annual General Meeting of the Mfantseman District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (DMHIS) yielded an ironic fall out when it was realised that some of the chairmen of the scheme in the communities had themselves not registered.

The Mfantseman District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Robert Quainoo-Arthur, had cautioned service providers whose unpatriotic attitude he said was discouraging people from registering with the scheme and asked them to turn over a new leaf.

Addressing the AGM at Saltpond on Tuesday, he said it had come to his notice that some service providers were frustrating clients who reported at their facilities for attention.

The DCE reminded the people that the scheme belonged to them so they should make every effort to sustain it by exposing service providers and others who undermined it.

Mr Quainoo-Arthur said the scheme had come to stay and urged the "Doubting Thomases" sitting on the fence to get involved.

He advised people who had been reading politics into the scheme to stop since they would not be sparred when found.

Mr Frank Neequaye, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said 45,686 people had registered with 15,672 issued with identity cards.

He said the District Scheme had received about ¢1.3 billion as subsidy from the National Council of the scheme while internally generated funds amounted to a little over ¢267 million with ¢1,042,258,628 paid as claims as at 31st December, 2006.

Mr Neequaye identified inadequate logistics, frequent power cuts, which does not allow staff of the scheme to give of their best and low premium as some of the problems facing the DMHIS.

He called for an increase of the premium of 72,000 cedis since bills kept mounting at a rate of 50 percent every month.

The Board Chairman said prices of medicine were different from what was agreed on in the contract document with some service providers issuing unapproved drugs to clients and called on them to put a stop to the practice.

Source GNA