Physically disabled agitate for free NHIS registration

Accra, April 30, GNA - The National Administrator of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, Mr. Alexander Tetteh on Monday called on the government to allow free registration for people with disabilities under the National Health Insurance Scheme. Mr Tetteh said on the other hand, such people should be provided with free medical and other healthcare services.

In an interview with the GNA, Mr. Tetteh said since there were a lot of disabled people in the society who are not gainfully employed, it would be prudent on the part of government to provide them with free access to healthcare.

He added that a lot of members of the society had not been able to register with the health scheme because they could not afford the minimum fee of 72,000 cedis.

Mr. Tetteh added that although the Government had allocated 5 per cent of every District Assembly Common Fund to the disabled society in every district, the Assemblies had always failed to provide funds. The National Administrator appealed to all District Chief Executives and other government agencies not to hesitate in giving to the disabled societies their share of the common fund to enable them to run their activities effectively.

"Government agencies and departments must put measures in place to ensure that the disabled too benefit from the national cake", he added.

Mr. Tetteh disclosed that the association did not even have adequate funds to pay its staff and also to take care of its activities and therefore called on the government to come to the aid of the association.