Executive Secretary calls for de-politicisation of NHIS

Koforidua, March 3, GNA - The new Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Council (NHIC), Mr Ras Boateng, has called for the de-politicisation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to ensure that more people register for its benefits. He said a healthy citizenry would have an enormous impact on productivity and the economy of the country.

Mr Boateng was speaking at a day's seminar for District Chief Executives, Board Chairmen and Managers of District Health Insurance Schemes (DHIS) in the Greater Accra, Eastern and Volta regions in Koforidua on Friday.

The seminar, which was the third and last in a series, was organized by the NHIC to enable the new executive secretary interact with key players in the implementation of the district schemes to get a first-hand information to enable the Council to strategies on how to increase the number of scheme holders in the country.

Earlier in a welcome address, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Yaw Barimah, congratulated the implementers of the scheme for their efforts, which he noted, had resulted in the implementation of the scheme in almost all the districts in the country. He, however, expressed concern about the low figures of registered members in relation to the national population and challenged them to work hard to ensure that more people registered.

Mr Barimah observed that, it was not enough for the implementers of the scheme to say that the people were not understanding the scheme, hence, the low registration and charged the implementers to find more innovative ways of explaining the scheme to the people to accept and own it.