NHIS biometric registration attracts more people

The introduction of the Biometric Registration System into the operations of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has generated greater interest and enthusiasm in the Central Region.

This is confirmed by the result of the increased patronage by the number of people who troop to the various district offices of the NHIS daily to register with the Scheme and sometimes creating tension, since the biometric registration system was introduced in the region in March, this year.

A survey conducted by the Ghana News Agency revealed that almost all the Scheme’s regional offices are choked daily with hundreds of prospective clients eager to either register or renew their NHIS membership identification (ID) cards.

Areas the GNA visited during the three-day survey included Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese, Agona, Assin –Foso, Awutu – Effutu –Senya, Kasoa, Saltpond, and Gomoa district offices of the NHIA.

Majority of prospective clients who spoke to the GNA attributed their interest in the NHIS to the instant production of the ID cards due to the biometric registration.

Hitherto prospective clients were asked to wait for three months before their ID cards were printed in Accra and sent to their respective schemes in the region for distribution.

Mr Bright Inkoom, a self-employed and a member of the Awutu –Effutu Senya Scheme, commended the change-over and appealed to the NHIA employees to work harder to meet the increasing demands of clients.

Mr Inkoom expressed appreciation to employees of the Awutu-Effutu-Senya Scheme for the high commitment they had attached to the work, saying however that there was more room for improvement.

Mr Joseph Yaw Owusu-Kwarteng, former Public Relations Officer of the Scheme, appealed to the Government to equip the various NHIA branch offices with more biometric machines and staff to curb the challenges facing the Scheme.