Sunyani Residents Applaud NHIA For Electronic Renewal System

Members of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in Sunyani have lauded government for making it possible for them to renew their membership conveniently, faster and easier.

some of them who could not hide their joy said they will no more travel long distance to the NHIS offices in Sunyani to join long queues and spend virtually the whole day just to renew their memberships.

In December last year, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) rolled out a new mode of membership renewal which only requires NHIS subscribers to renew their membership via mobile phones in a process which takes less than a minute. A subscriber needs to have some money on his or her mobile-money wallet in order to access this service.

This new arrangement, which was earlier piloted and proven successful in the Asuogyaman District and West Mamprusi District, is part of reforms being undertaken by the NPP government to make it effective, efficient and responsive to the needs the ordinary people.

Under the new mode of membership renewal, NHIS subscribers only have to dial *929# on all networks and follow the prompts, and in a matter of one minute; membership is renewed.

This innovative approach by the current handlers of the scheme would go a long way to save time, lower operational cost, increase revenue, attract more members to the scheme and also reduce revenue leakages, among several others.

“I initially thought it was a joke but I decided to give it a try and wow! In less than a minute I had been able to renew my membership and that of my children as well right on my phone. In fact, Nana Akufo-Addo has really done well”, Angelina Tawiah, a subscriber said in an interview.

She further said the NHIS appears to back on track after it nearly collapsed under the previous regime when it was virtually choked with debts, thereby compelling some service providers to withdraw service to NHIS members.

“I remember in Kufuor’s time, when the scheme was first introduced, each Electoral Area was assigned a person who was facilitating the renewals, sometimes through door-to-door but this was truncated when the NPP lost power to the NDC in 2008”, she added.

According to Madam Angelina Tawiah, who recently used the newly introduced system to renew membership of some of her dependents, managers of the scheme and government in general have really done well and must be praised as such.

For his part, a Principal Administrative Officer at the Sunyani Technical University, David Owusu-Ansah, stated that the Akufo-Addo led government deserves lots of commendation for introducing this new system.

“This is another proof that after years of near collapse, the NHIS is now back on track and is now serving Ghanaians better as compared to the previous situation where one has to waste his time and energy at the NHIS office to renew his or her membership. Kudos to the government!” he said.

Another NHIS subscriber, Janet Ankomah noted that this new way of membership renewal “is a step in the right direction and must be applauded.”

All the subscribers did not mince words on the big relief this has brought to them and expressed their gratitude to the NPP government. - ([email protected])