NHIS exceeds revenue target in Upper West Region

Suleymana Abass, the Upper West Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), has said the scheme has exceeded its revenue target by 57 percent.

Mr Abass said the number of new subscribers to the NHIS increased from 70,358 in 2018 to 93,400 people in 2019 representing 57 percent coverage in the region.

He said this during the 2019 Annual Review of the performance of the NHIS in the Upper West Region.

Mr Abass said the electronic renewal of the National Health Insurance (NHI) Membership Cards through mobile money has led to an increase in the targeted revenue of the scheme from GHC 220,000.00 to GHC 235, 000.00 representing a 60 percent increase in revenue in 2019.

He said the major challenge faced by the NHIA in the mobile money renewal system is poor network coverage in the region especially the Sisala East and Wa East Districts and appealed to the telecommunication network companies in the country to extend coverage to these districts.

Mr Abass said the NHIS has an active membership of 4,450,000 people representing 96 percent of the poor population in the region and has exceeded the targeted coverage of the poor and vulnerable by 34 percent.

“The electronic renewal system that was introduced in 2019, which allows our customers to renew their membership through their mobile money is a game-changer because it has contributed to about 60 percent of the revenue collected in 2019, but we faced challenges with regards to the telecommunication coverage", he said.

"I want to use this platform to make an appeal to the telecommunication companies to extend coverage to all parts of the region to help in the digitalization drive of the country”, he said.