LOW registration of the NHIS in Wa East District

Katua, (UWR), May 25, GNA - Most people in the Wa East District are still unenthusiastic about The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). The NHIS has been perceived as one of the best government's pro-poor interventions to provide quality healthcare services to the deprived, has so far registered only 18 per cent of the population in the area making it the lowest in the region.

Mr. Ambrose Dery, Upper West Regional Minister made this known during the launch of a Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) at Katua in the Wa East District on Thursday. He expressed his disappointment about the lukewarm attitude of the people towards the scheme, noting that even though the NHIS was piloted at Funsi, the district capital, the people in the area were still adamant about its usefulness.

He called on chiefs, elders and opinion leaders in the district to help educate the people to register with the scheme and also encourage all those who had previously registered with the scheme to pay their premiums to enable them to benefit from it.

Dr Erasmus Agongo, Upper West Regional Director of Health Service said his outfit had planned to build 197 CHPS at deprived communities throughout the region to make healthcare services accessible to all. He said already 26 CHPS had been provided, covering 12.5 per cent of the health needs of the people.

Dr. Agongo commended development partners and NGOs for their support in the programme and urged community members to take ownership of the facilities and equipment to prolong their lifespan. Mr. Ali Mohammed, Programme Officer of the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), in charge of Health in the region, announced that the CRS had provided 360 million cedis to the Regional Health Administration out of which 90 million was allocated to the Wa East District to construct the CHPS at Katua.

The CRS has also provided two Yamaha motorbikes to support the CHPS centre and facilitate outreach services as well as follow- ups. It is also supporting the planned monthly outreach clinical activities in the districts to make health services accessible to the people in the communities.

He said the NGO was assisting the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the implementation of its CHPS concept and the integrated management of childhood illnesses initiatives, aimed at improving access and quality of health service in the communities.

Mr. Mohammed noted that if the CHPS concept was properly implemented, it would help reduce the preventable deaths of mothers and children considerably in the region. He called on all stakeholders in the health sector to harness and harmonise resources and activities through collaborative efforts and support to ensure that infant and maternal mortality rate was reduced. Mr. Joe Bolibie, Wa East District Director of Health Service, said there have been significant achievements since the introduction of CHPS in the district. He said most communitie s have now begun to see some improvement in sanitation, the provision of regular health service and reduction in the number of disease conditions. He announced that the district has been demarcated into 21 CHPS zones, but lamented that only two zones were functional while three were under construction.

Mr. Bolibie appealed to the government to provide the district with electricity and communication facilities to promote health services in the area. 25 May 07