Fijai (W/R), July 1, GNA - The national and uniform National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) identity cards could be used by subscribers to access medical care from government hospitals and private accredited health facilities anywhere in the country, Mr. Charles Nti, Scheme Manager of the Sekondi Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, has said. He was speaking at a Western Regional Civil Society Forum organised by the Ghana Coalition of non-governmental organizations on Tuesday. The Netherlands embassy sponsored the forum that was under the theme "Building Effective Partnership in Health Care Delivery." Mr. Nti said the national cards are among the innovations being introduced in the NHIS to ensure the "total portability of the scheme." He said the old membership cards are being phased out and replaced with the new ones and this means that the old cards would still be in use until a member's insurance is due for renewal. Mr. Nti said the challenges facing the scheme had inspired new innovations that would be introduced to transform the scheme into a first class health insurance scheme with optimized operational efficiency.

He said these measures are aimed at ensuring the long term sustainability of the scheme and would be applied in the areas of ICT, Quality Control, claims administration and restructuring. Mr Nti said the Sekondi Mutual Health Insurance scheme has registered about 80 per cent of the population and this had contributed to the overwhelming claims being paid. Dr Kweku Karikari, Deputy Regional Director of Health Services, urged communities to collaborate with the Ghana Health Service to inculcate health habits into the people to prevent diseases. 01 July 09