NHIS week records impressive patronage

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) week celebration recorded an impressive patronage at all the district mutual health centres in the Greater Accra Region on Monday, the first day of the celebration.

Over 3,000 persons were diagnosed of various ailments and attended to while others with complicated cases were referred to medical centres for treatment.

The day was also used to register new persons, especially pregnant mothers, and renew the health insurance cards for those which had expired.

The various District Mutual Health Insurance Schemes (DMHIS), which benefited from the exercise included Okaikoi, Ayawaso, Osu Klotey, Ashiedu Keteke, Ablekuma, Tema, Kpeshie and Ga Districts.

The NHIS week celebration is aimed at intensifying education on the NHIS in general and informing the public about steps being taken to address the concerns of the subscribers.

In a statement, Mr Ras Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority, said despite its short span, the scheme had achieved impressive successes covering 60 per cent of the country's population.

Mr Boateng said it was one of the most liberal and fastest growing health insurance schemes in the world.

He called on the media to independently assess the impact of the scheme on the lives of ordinary subscribers to enable them to spread the good news to others who were yet to subscribe to it.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, some of the beneficiaries of Monday's programme expressed delight at the exercise.

They suggested that the exercise should be a permanent one. Meanwhile, the DMHIS in collaboration with Zoom Lion, a sanitation company, would on Tuesday embark on a clean up exercise and also carry out health checks in the regional and district capitals as well as educate the public on preventive care.