More children given biometric health registration

Three hundred under-privileged children in the Effutu Municipality, have benefited from a free Biometric National Health Insurance Registration exercise.

The exercise was organized by the Winneba Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), as part of its three-year programme to combat child trafficking in the area.

The children were drawn from Adansie, Ponkor Ekyire, Mburabeam, Penkye, Yepemso, Abasareba, Ayipe and Alata Kookodwo, all within Winneba township.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mrs Mary Lois Amo-Richmond, Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI), said the programme was undertaken with support from concerned individuals in the Effutu Municipality.

She said the free health insurance registration for the children was done after a house-to-house campaign they conducted around the coastal communities in Winneba.

Mrs Amo-Richmond said the root causes of child trafficking were ignorance and poverty, as many parents complained of having problems in taking care of their children, and based on such reasons, gave them out.

She said in some of the homes visited, they realized that the ailing children were given local concoctions and self-medication, and this was unacceptable.

Mrs Amo-Richmond appealed to parents of the beneficiary children to utilize their health insurance cards when the children needed medical attention.

She said combating human trafficking was a collective responsibility, and appealed to citizens of Effutu to report to the police, people suspected of indulging in such activities.