NHIA targets over 438,000 new active membership in Western Region

Emmanuel Reinfred Okyere, Western Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has said his outfit targeted the registration of about 438,340 more active members in the month of November 2020.

He said the Directorate at the beginning of 2020 set the target of registering 1,107,330 members onto the Scheme but has so far registered 668,990 hence the membership drive to register the targeted figure.

He said, the Scheme's District management teams would step up their efforts in registering staff of corporate institutions, community residents, religious bodies, children under the School Feeding Programme, beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Eradication Programme (LEAP) and Prison inmates among others.

Mr Okyere made this known in an interview with the GNA during a float organized by the NHIS Directorate to launch the Regional Week celebration in Takoradi on the theme, "NHIS: Leaving no one behind".

They created awareness on the operations of the Scheme, while the staff of the Scheme embarked on a float through the principal streets of Sekondi-Takoradi, within the Central Business District (CBD), Kojokrom Sub-Metro and ended at the Regional Office of the Authority in Sekondi.

While on the float, staff sensitized the residents on registration procedures using the mobile platforms by dialling the shortcode *929# and following the prompts.

Mr Okyere said the celebration, which commenced on Monday, November 9 is expected to end on Friday, November 13, 2020, and aims at embarking on mass registration exercise in all the district offices across the region.

“We will be in the communities within the various districts to register people from Monday to Sunday, while some designated churches would be hosting the registration team for the mass registration exercise and on Friday, our Moslem brothers at the mosques will have their turn”, he indicated.

He said a waiver has been put on the one month waiting before cards could be active for use and called on the public to go and renew and register for new cards.

He, however, explained that the registration was not free for the public except pregnant women and children below the age of 18 years who had to pay the prescribed premium required to be enrolled onto the scheme.