Mad rush for NHIS biometric ID Cards

National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) card holders in the Asante-Akim South District are flocking the district office in a bid to switch to the scheme’s newly introduced biometric card.

The situation is not being helped by the current arrangement under which biometric registration of first timers and replacement of expired cards has been centralized and could only be done at the district office.

The District Manager, Mr. Joseph Mensah, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, the staff of the NHIS, are over-stretched and overworking themselves.

They have been forced by the huge number of clients, who troop to the place daily, to work throughout the week days and weekends, closing as late as 0100 hours on some occasions.

Reporters of the GNA had gone to the area under STAR-Ghana’s sponsored media auditing and tracking of development projects, an initiative launched to put a spotlight on how government’s resources were helping to transform the lives of the people, particularly those in rural communities.

The goal is to aid transparency, promote accountability and good local governance.

Mr. Mensah complained about the poor internet service in the district and said that had slowed down the pace of the registration - for hours the link would be off, disabling them from registering more people as they would have wished.

The office has been operating with four registration machines and on the average, registers about 240 clients daily, instead of the expected 400.

He said they were doing everything to get more registration machines to improve the situation.

Some clients expressed their frustration to the GNA about the painfully slow pace of the registration and said things needed to move faster.

Mary Akuoko, a 25 year-old hairdresser from Ofoase, recounted how she had to spend one week with a friend at Juaso before she could go through the process.