Kumasi, July 17, GNA - Mr Sylvester Mensah, Chief Executives Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIS), has expressed concerns about what he described as "fictitious claims and fraud" in the operations of the scheme in the Ashanti Region. If unchecked, he said, it could lead to the collapse of the entire scheme in the region and noted that an audit of the operations of the scheme had been initiated.

Addressing the management and staff of the NHIS in Kumasi during a two-day tour of the region, Mr Mensah said the audit would later be replicated nationwide.

He ordered the scheme manager for Asokwa, Mr Isaac Asare to immediately resume duty at the Regional Office in order to commence auditing of the scheme's operations.

Mrs Leticia Osei-Poku, Ashanti Regional Director of the Scheme, has therefore been assigned additional oversight responsibility for Asokwa until the auditing was completed.

The CEO said the construction of Regional Offices for the scheme would commence in September this year, to enhance the administration and other operations of the Scheme in the country.

Mr Mensah assured them that government would not dismiss any member of the scheme and urged them to sustain and improve upon the scheme. Responding to a question, he mentioned that one of the major problems confronting the scheme nationwide was Information Technology (IT) management and said everything possible would done to recruit and train more qualified people. Meanwhile, Mr Asare, has welcomed the claims audit into the Asokwa operations and said he was confident that no wrongdoing would be uncovered. 17 July 09