The Management and Staff of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in the Northern Region on Tuesday November 16, 2021, march through the principal streets of Tamale to educate the public on the two new packages added to the scheme.
First Lady, Rebecca Akufo-Addo, on Monday during the official launch of the 2021 NHIS Week Celebration announced the four Childhood Cancers (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia, Burkitt Lymphoma, Retinoblastoma and Wilms Tumor) and Family Planning services as the new benefits for NHIS cardholders in the country.
This means families will no longer have to incur the cost of treatment and any child diagnose of these four cancers will enjoy free treatment under the NHIS. In addition, Ghanaians will also enjoy free family planning services in the country.
Mr Issahaque Abdul Latif, the NHIA Northern Regional Director in an interview with Journalists said the public education forms part of series of activities earmarked for the weeklong celebration.
According to him, membership on the scheme prior to the maiden celebration last year was about 11 million but the number he added significantly increased to about 15 million as a result of a massive registration of new members during the celebration.
“Executive Management with the support of the Board thought that, if we were able to adopt a novel way of sensitizing the public; it was likely to yield some dividends in terms of membership. By the close of last year’s celebration, we really had, in excess of 15 million – almost adding four million people to the number of people we had before the NHIS celebration week” he emphasized.
Mr Abdul Latif said the period also offers an opportunity for NHIS cardholders to enjoy instant registration and renewal privileges as it was done last year for others whose cards had expired for several years without any cost to them.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for the NHIA responsible for Human Resource and Administration, Mrs. Yaa Pokua Baiden, who joined the celebration in Tamale, highlighted on the theme for the 2021 celebration, “NHIS: Using the Ghana Card for Expanding Access to Health Care”.
According to her, this milestone feet offers an advantage for more Ghanaians to register onto the scheme to access healthcare with minimum or no hurdle and avoid some preventable deaths in the country. Again, she posited that certain healthcare burdens on the populace will be reduced drastically.
The Deputy CEO indicated one has to dial *929# and follow option 4 where you have to key in your Ghana Card number and accordingly enter your NHIS number.
“What we want to let people know about is that, now it is so easy to link your Ghana Card with the NHIS card by just dialing *929# and then following the prompts” she stressed.
Mrs. Yaa Pokua Baiden the target of the NHIA is to achieve the universal health coverage by 2030 as stipulated by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
“And why we’re doing that is that we want everybody in Ghana to have quality healthcare. And what NHIS does is that we provide financial risks protection for all residents in Ghana and those who come to visit” she further pronounced.
Meanwhile, the staff and senior management distributed copies of NHIS Membership Handbook outlining the registration process and access benefits of the cardholders.
