The National Health Insurance Authority in Techiman in the Bono East Region has recorded a total of 185,753 membership in 2021 compared to 168,291 in 2020, the Acting Municipal Manager, Seth Amponsah has disclosed.
Giving the breakdown, he indicated that the Authority registered 71,785 members from the informal sector, 82,771 dependents, 5,630 aged, 4, 723 Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributors, 5,635 pregnant women and 14,411 indigenes.
The manager disclosed that new membership stood at 25,595 and 160,160 renewals adding that ordinary renewals had 27,423 while electronic renewals recorded 132,737.
He disclosed these on Wednesday at the 2021 Annual Review and Stakeholder Engagement Meeting at Techiman attended by traditional authorities, health care providers, Assembly Members, officials of the municipal assembly, journalists, Ghana Health Service (GHS), clients of the NHIA and the general public.
The meeting took stock of the activities of the Authority in the municipality during the period under review, and to plan towards effective health care provision in the years ahead.
Mr Amponsah enumerated some operational challenges affecting the activities of the Techiman office, such as the lack of official vehicle, intermittent network downtimes and application, inadequate administrative staff and illegal charges by their clients.
“We will increase outreach registration exercise, intensify education on mobile registration and renewal, collaborate with the Information Service Department (ISD), radio stations, community members in 2022”, he assured.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Benjamin Yaw Gyarko, reiterated the commitment of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to provide quality but free health care across the country.
Mr Gyarko expressed worry about how some service providers in the municipality charged unapproved fees from their patients because of delayed payments of claims by the Authority, saying that it was against the law.
“The Assembly is poised to improving on the health care delivery systems to ensure healthy population. We have bought medical equipments for the Health Directorate, to be distributed to health facilities in our area,” he noted.
The Ankobeahene of Techiman traditional council, Nana Amponsah Takra II, who chaired the meeting, charged the NHIA to intensify education on their operations to avoid conflicts between patients and health providers.
Nana Amponsah entreated the government to provide quality health facilities across the country, where the rich and the poor could access health care in the country without travelling abroad.
FROM EMMANUEL ADU GYAMFI, TECHIMAN
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