Winneba, Oct. 2, GNA - The Awutu-Effutu-Senya District Directorate of education, Mr. Kweku Arhin, has urged teachers in the district who have not registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to embrace the policy without delay.

Addressing GES workers and teachers at Winneba on the importance of the Scheme, Mr. Arhin described the policy as one of the best development programmes the nation had ever initiated to address the curative health challenges facing the people. Mr. Arhin expressed the hope that the introduction of the NHIS will go a long way to save the nation huge sums of money which otherwise could have been used to pay medical claims of Government employees annually.

He reminded workers, especially those who contribute to the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT), that since their yearly premiums towards the implementation of the new national health policy had already been deducted at source, they should put aside all partisan sentiments and register with their respective District, Municipal and Metropolitan Mutual Health Insurance Scheme to enable them to derive maximum benefits from the scheme.

Mr Solomon K. Abbam-Quaye, District Chief Executive for Awutu-Effutu-Senya, charged teachers in the district to educate their children on the need to pass on the health insurance message to their parents and guardians who have not registered to be part of the policy He said that the excellent performance of both school children and the teachers would definitely depend on sound and healthier body, hence the need for parents to take the policy serious in order to protect themselves against any eventuality.

Mr. Abbam-Quaye asked Head teachers and Parent/Teacher association executives to include health insurance in their agenda during their emergency and annual general meetings to sensitise members of the association who still fell reluctant to a accept the NHIS as a useful national health delivery policy.

Earlier, Mr Joseph Yaw Owusu-Kwareng, Public Relations Officer of the Awutu Effutu Senya District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, had taken the teachers through the rudiments of the Scheme and stressed the need for them to register.

Mr. Owusu-Kwarteng announced that management of the Scheme had introduced a new and disposable hospital attendance cards to ease the burden of clients travelling from far and near to collect their hospital attendance cards whenever they fell sick. The PRO explained why the old hospital attendance cards which is currently being used alongside the new ones until it is phased out completely to the teachers, and maintained that the procedure has actually assisted the scheme to maintain a clean record as far as the payment of claims to service providers was concerned. Mr. Owusu-Kwateng advised premium holders of the scheme wishing to travel outside the district to live in another district for a longer period to always strive to secure an introductory letter from the management of the scheme to make the usage of the ID and hospital attendance cards easy in their new district. Similarly, clients who would be referred to source medical attention from any tertiary health institution should first contact the management of the mother scheme for a covering letter to support the referrer note.

In a message, the Scheme Manager, Mr Christopher Oddoye, assured the district Directorate and heads of educational institutions in the district of regular interactions to educate them on the development of the NHIS to enable them to share ideas and contribute to the advancement of the policy. 02 Oct. 07