Workshop on Health Insurance opens

Navrongo (U/E), Jan. 7, GNA- Stakeholders of the Kassena-Nankana District Mutual Health Insurance Organization (MHO) have attended a three-day capacity-building workshop on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at Navrongo in the Upper East Region.

It was organized by the District Assembly and sponsored by Partnership for Health Reform Plus (PHR Plus), a five-year US Agency for International Development (USAID) technical assistance project. The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr. George Danyare, announced that all was set for the launching of the District's Mutual Health Insurance Scheme next March.

He said various committees have been set up as part of the preparation and they were working around the clock to ensure that the scheme took off smoothly.

He said the Assembly was prepared to provide offices and other logistics for the secretariat and appealed to participants to commit themselves to the implementation of the scheme.

Mr. Danyare thanked the PHR Plus for their support and pledged that the Assembly looked forward to future collaboration to improve the health needs of the people.

The Upper East Regional Co-ordinator of PHR Plus, Mr. Limange Joseph Sineka, underscored the role the various stakeholders had to play, especially those who work in the local community for the success of the entire National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), He pointed out that the workshop aimed to build the skills of the participants to convince the rural people that the scheme was introduced to reduce their health burden.

Mr. Sineka advised the participants to use tact and patience in their attempt to educate the people on the usefulness of the scheme. The 55 participants, drawn from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), District Assembly and local NGO representatives were taken through community mobilization, payment mechanisms and how to manage risk.