Public education On NHIS not encouraging

Bolgatanga, April 29, GNA - The Government Spokesman on Social Services, Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, on Wednesday expressed concern about the slow pace of public education on the Health Insurance Scheme in the various districts.

He held that most of the district assemblies have either made little use or failed to use media organizations, especially radio, in their sensitisation programmes on the scheme.

Mr Bediako expressed the concern in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga, saying the scheme was considered a more humane alternative to the "Cash and Carry" system, because it gives easy access to health care without patients having to pay for health services at the point of delivery.

He said the scheme provides security for all community members, irrespective of one's social status, adding that each contributor becomes his or her neighbour's keeper because the scheme is a collective contribution from all the community members to cater for their health needs.

He said the key objective of the scheme was to increase the geographical and financial base of the citizenry to basic health care services, and that to make this possible the citizenry needed to be actively involved.

Mr Bediako called on District Assemblies to negotiate with the various FM stations in their districts to mount vigorous educational campaigns on the scheme for the people to appreciate and join it. He defined the scheme as a risk pooling effort where people in a community agree to register and make contributions on regular basis into a fund so that in case of ill health any member of that community could receive treatment with monies paid from the contributions they committed into the fund.

He, therefore, called on the people to embrace the scheme by contributing to the fund