NHIA Deputy Chief Executive for Operations, Louisa Atta-Agyemang
The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has commended the F. Alpha and Omega Specialist Hospital in Madina, management's voluntary registration of more people onto the National Health Scheme (NHIS) for free.
By extension, the NHIS mass membership mobilization exercise covers the renewal of expired membership of existing members, organized in the hospital's premises.
This came to light when the NHIA Deputy Chief Executive for Operations, Louisa Atta-Agyemang paid a working visit to the hospital on Tuesday June, 25, 2024.
According to the hospital's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Francis Fosu, the facility became operational three months and realized that majority of residents there were not insured by the NHIS.
This, he said informed management's desire to embark on 'Operation 20,000 registration of more people onto the NHIS for free.
Mr. Francis Fosu further explained that the rapid intervention was in line with the hospital's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), geared towards encouraging people to subscribe to the NHIS.
"When we started operations three months ago, many people in the community lacked NHIS cards and some had not renewed their membership due to a low level of trust in the Scheme. To address this, the hospital set an ambitious goal to register 20,000 new members for free, with 7,000 members already registered."
He reassured NHIS members of total healthcare services without any challenges, especially illegal charges for services covered by the Scheme, reaffirming the hospital’s commitment to patient care and support.
Mr. Fosu raised concern about the disparity between market prices of medicines and the prices set by the NHIA, which he bemoaned is affecting the hospital's operations.
During the visit, the NHIA Deputy Chief Executive for Operations, Louisa Atta-Agyemang interacted with some NHIS members on admission in various wards and they confided in her that the NHIS covered all their medical bills and expressed their profound gratitude for not paying extra monies.
She commended the hospital's management for their exemplary services, highlighting credentialed healthcare providers role in enhancing the importance of the NHIS.
She was impressed with the hospital management's free registration of more people onto the NHIS and renewing the expired membership of some beneficiaries of the Scheme.
She underscored the need for other credentialled healthcare providers to adopt similar practices to enhance quality and affordable healthcare accessibility, and as well renew public trust in the NHIS.
She advised credentialed healthcare providers to stop extorting monies (illegal charges) from NHIS members for services covered by the Scheme.
As inaugurated in April 2024, the F. Alpha and Omega Specialist Hospital is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including a dental clinic with an operation room, an eye clinic, a dialysis center with 10 machines set to start operations in September, a fully stocked pharmacy, a labor room, and separate wards for male, female, and pediatric patients.
