PTRONISE MASS NHIS REGISTRATION — MABENGBA (PAGE 23, OCT 14. 2010)

THE Northern Regional Minister, Mr Moses Mabengba, has entreated residents of Tamale to patronise the mass registration exercise being undertaken by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
He said people’s failure to plan for their health needs contributed partly to their low standard of living.
“When you fall sick and you cannot pay for health care, your health deteriorates, you are incapacitated from working and your poverty is deepened,” the minister stated, adding that nobody could tell when he or she would fall sick.
Mr Mabengba made these remarks when he and other officials of the NHIA toured various places in the Tamale metropolis where the mass registration was ongoing.
He visited the Ambarriyya and Tamale Central mosques, where many residents had turned up to be captured under the scheme, and donated GH¢200 to support the exercise.
The Minister said the mass registration was an opportunity that the NHIA had offered Ghanaians to ensure that they were captured under the scheme without having to go through any cumbersome processes.
“The registration exercise has been brought to your doorsteps, so that you are spared the ordeal of having to transport yourselves to the schemes offices. So you have no excuse not to register,” he stated.
Mr Mabengba asked the residents not to cite the registration fee as a hindrance, noting that “you would pay ten times more if you were to go through the cash and carry system, especially if you are the type who falls sick regularly.”
He said the government was very committed to enhancing the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) because the National Democratic Congress (NDC) was running a people-centred government.
“You are aware that this government is putting in place mechanisms to make the premium payment onetime. This would ensure that you save the monies that you would have used to pay the premium each year to cater for other needs,” he further stated.
The Deputy Director of Operations at the NHIA, Mr Anthony Gingong, said the NHIA had adopted an aggressive strategy to get more Ghanaians registered under the scheme.
“We want to improve upon what we came to meet so as to ensure that the health needs of Ghanaians are adequately addressed,” he stated.
Mr Gingong said aside the mass registration, the NHIA was implementing some reforms to better the administration of health insurance in all the districts and these include increased monitoring and computerised claims processing.
“We have now reduced the period used to process I.D cards for registered clients from three months to one month,” he further mentioned.