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HEALTH

Sunyani NHIS records 5,227 clients renewal

The Sunyani Municipal Office of the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS) has within three months of its electronic renewal (E-renewal) system implementation recorded 5,227 clients renewal.

Date Created : 3/21/2019 12:00:00 AM : Story Author : Fawzia Seidu/Josephine Oppong

The Sunyani Municipal Office of the National Health insurance Scheme (NHIS) has within three months of its electronic renewal (E-renewal) system implementation recorded 5,227 clients renewal.

This comprises 420 renewals in December last year, 1,778 in January, 1,870 in February, and 1,159 in March this year.

This is a tremendous improvement in its operations and a realization of the objectives of the introduction of that policy by the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr. Maxwell Mahama, the Scheme's Manager, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Thursday.

He said among others the E-renewal system aims at reducing pressure on the NHIA staff and congestion at the offices to ensure efficiency in the Scheme's operations.

Clients suffered a lot of stress in long queues before they would be attended to and also have to spend extra money on transportation as part of the process of renewal, Mr. Mahama said.

He said the E-renewal was only for the renewal of the cards, but for a first-time registration, a client must come to the NHIS office in person to go through the necessary procedures.

Mr. Mahama said the needy, persons with disabilities, and pregnant women are obliged to visit the NHIS office for the completion of some required documents approved by their health practitioners and opinion leaders before registration and renewal.

He said the system is not without challenges despite the progress made, hence more education is needed to be done.

Mr. Mahama said the process pertaining to the use of the internet was very boring to some people who preferred the old manual system while some clients also complained of poor network systems.

He urged the general public to patronize the initiative and be willing to comprehend the process.

Mr Mahama said it is the intention of the Office to visit churches, mosques, and information centres to sensitize the populace.