THE Yendi Municipal Mutual Health Insurance Scheme has held its first general meeting to review its achievements and challenges to chart a new course for the smooth management of the scheme in the municipality.
The scheme was initiated by the government in 2003 in line with the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy to offer accessible, affordable and quality health care to the people.
The scheme in the municipality began managing claims in November, 2005 and so far, 120,302 people are benefiting from it representing 76 per cent of the population of 159,000 people.
The seven accredited health facilities delivering services to clients in the area are the Yendi Government Hospital, the Church of Christ Mission Clinic, and the Bunbong, Gnani, Adibo, Sang and Jimli health centres.
The rest are the Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds at Sunson, Dabogni and Kuni.
According to the Chairman of the scheme, Alhaji Yakubu Yusif, ‘‘the scheme has not left any stone unturned in ensuring that those at the hinterland have licensed private chemical shops to serve their needs.’’
He said hospital attendance had soared since 2005 to June, this year, where a total number of 90,423 clients had been attended to while about GH¢1,043,065.27 had been paid to the various health facilities within the same period.
‘‘The implementation of free maternity care and delivery services for women, even though not currently registered under the NHIS, is expected to increase the number of attendance as we continue to record high numbers daily at our registration desk,’’ the chairman stated.
He further indicated that as a result of the prudent and efficient management of the scheme in the municipality, the management did not owe the service providers any money.
Alhaji Yusif, however, mentioned inadequate computers, photocopiers and the lack of software for the operation of the scheme as some of the daunting tasks faced by management.
The chairman further observed that the administrative support received from the headquarters in Accra was irregular while other logistics such as motorbikes, inadequate health personnel and staff were challenges against the smooth running of the scheme.
The Scheme Manager, Mr Alhassan Shahadu Issahaku, appealed for an upward review and subsidy per head of the exempt group to enable the scheme to withstand the shock of increased bills paid monthly.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Yendi Municipal Chief Executive, Alhaji Mohammed Habib Tijani, said the achievements recorded so far should motivate the management and other stakeholders of the scheme to strive hard to ensure 100 per cent coverage of the scheme in the municipality.
He also stressed the need for the people to sustain the prevailing peace in the area to accelerate the development of the municipality to improve on the general well-being of the people.
The Northern Regional Manager of the NHIS, Mr Hudu Issah, called on other districts in the region to emulate the success story of the Yendi scheme.
He disclosed that so far, about 1,290,267 people in the region, representing 64 per cent of the population had registered with the scheme out of which 900,000 of them were actually benefiting from the initiative.
The manager announced that the NHIS authority had developed strategies to address some of the difficulties encountered in the successful operation of the scheme in the country.
The strategies included the de-coupling of children, development of a uniform tariff structure, introduction of a uniform ID card and collaboration with other stakeholders to identify actual indigents.
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