Free NHIS registration for Flood, Fire Disaster victims

The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) in collaboration with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is registering free of charge 11, 152 households affected by the June 3 flood and fire disaster on the national health Insurance Scheme in five Regions in Ghana.

The Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western, Central and Volta regions are benefiting from the exercise under the Emergency LEAP programme launched by the Ministry in June, 2015 to satisfy the immediate needs of the affected households.

Mr Richard Akuetteh Adjetey, acting Director of Social Protection, (MoGCSP), who announced this at one of the registration centres at Osu Five Junction, said the exercise was a measure to improve the living conditions and promote access to healthcare among the affected persons.

He said from the onset, the Ministry received a data of about 52,000 persons from the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) and they used their internal data process to narrow it down to 11,152 households.

He said they have to do that because in emergency response they dealt with households instead of individuals to ensure equity and fair distribution.

In Odawna, Osu Doku and Osu Alata 2,297 affected persons were enrolled on the programme and are being registered onto the NHIS, he added.

Mr Adjetey said most of the affected people lost their NHIS cards during the flood and were finding it difficult to access healthcare, hence the decision to assist them to access healthcare.

He explained that the affected persons are classified as vulnerable and would be registered free of charge and same apply to renewals.

He therefore expressed the Ministry’s gratitude to all collaborating bodies who contributed in diverse ways to the success of the programme.

Naa Artwei, one of the victims, was grateful to the government, especially the Ministry for the gesture.

She said they lost all their belongings to the June 3 flood and thanked all who were supporting them to put their souls and bodies together.