Wa MMHIS registers more clients

Wa, Jan. 19, GNA - The Wa Municipal Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (MMHIS) has registered a total of 99,893 clients as at the end of 2008, representing 87 percent of the total population of 113,954 people in the municipality.

The increase in registration is attributed to the high patronage of students from the University for Development Studies, the Wa Polytechnic as well as the migration of people from other parts of the country to Wa, the Upper West Regional Capital for business purposes. Mr Abdul-Rahman Alhassan, Wa Municipal Health Insurance Scheme Manager made this known to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Wa on Monday.

He said the scheme was able to mobilized GH¢111,153.00 as premium and GH¢27,096 as registration fee within the period while it received GH¢963,653.60 as subsidies from the National Health Insurance Scheme. Mr Alhassan said a total of 95,275 clients had been issued with identity cards with 87,930 clients benefiting and GH¢1,121,247.08 paid as claims at health institutions. He said outstanding debt for the period stood at GH¢306,000 that would be paid soon.

Mr Alhassan said the scheme was unable to raise sufficient funds for its operations last year due to higher client attendance rate to hospitals and other health facilities in the municipality. "One other factor that also accounted for this is the introduction of new tariffs by the National Health Insurance Scheme that are considered to be on a higher side," he explained. "For instance, a simple malaria treatment that used to cost GH¢5.40 now cost GH¢29.00 at the district health facilities and GH¢35.00 at regional health institutions," he said. "Complicated malaria treatment that used to cost the scheme GH¢18.5 has now increased to GH¢99.6," Mr Alhassan added. He called for an increase in government's subsidies to the scheme to help cater for the new tariffs. Mr Alhassan appealed to the government to provide adequate logistics such as computers, motorbikes, office accommodation and cross-country vehicles for the scheme to enhance its operations. 19 Jan. 09