Consultants of NHIS urged to broaden campaign on scheme

Kumasi, Aug 17, GNA - A business executive has appealed to consultants of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to review their campaign strategies to enable them reach out to all and sundry with messages on the scheme.

Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Managing Director of Lakayana Company, a civil engineering consortium, who made the appeal, said a review was necessary since the current adverts on the television and radio alone were not enough to convey the message to more people. He was interacting with the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi on Wednesday on measures that could be instituted to get more people to appreciate the scheme and register with it. Mr Prempeh said in reviewing their strategies, the NHIS consultants should devise training schemes solely for traditional rulers, teachers and religious leaders.

Such schemes should be used to inform and fully educate the opinion leaders on the importance of the scheme and the need for them to pass on such information to their members and subjects. Mr Prempeh held that with the active involvement of the opinion leaders, it would be very easy to bring the message to the doorsteps of many people and even convince them to register.

He expressed worry that even though many private universities were springing up, none of them had its focus on the establishment of medical schools or colleges for the training of nurses.

He said in view of the fact that medics were in high demand there was the need for some of the private universities to offer courses and training for doctors.

Mr Prempeh said though it was an expensive venture, it is worth investing in since it would go a long way to augment the scanty number of trained doctors and thus help reduce the scarcity of doctors in the country's hospitals.