Accra, Feb. 16, GNA- Government on Friday directed the Ministry of Health (MOH) to take punitive measures against medical personnel who discriminate against card bearing members of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and extort money from them.

Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, who announced the directive on Friday said some few wrong doers in the health profession had allow greed to overshadow their responsibility to discharge their duties to their fellow citizens with compassion and selflessness. Vice President Mahama was speaking in Accra when he handed over 30 out of the consignment of 140 vehicles meant for selected Mutual Health Insurance Schemes.

He stressed: " While awaiting the outcome of the investigations, I want to charge the MOH, the Ghana Health Service, the National Health Insurance Council (NHIC) and the Medical and Dental Council to institute immediate measures to guarantee the best service to all NHIS card bearers.

Vice President Mahama charged members of the NHIC to intensify efforts to remove all impediments that frustrate beneficiaries of the scheme.

The council has also been tasked to adopt strategies for accelerating the provision of identification cards and eliminate all problems associated with the availability of the cards. Vice President Mahama said Government efforts to streamline the scheme would not be effective if registered members could not defend it at all times to ensure its sustainability. "We also owe it as a duty to report corrupt officials to boards of the scheme," he said.

He urged the citizenry to take advantage of the NHIS to access free medical care, adding: " This is one of the best social services government is offering Ghanaians this jubilee year." Vice President Mahama appealed to journalists to be circumspect in their reportage on the NHIS and always crosscheck their facts in order not to erode the growing confidence of the people in the scheme and the success it had chalked so far.

Mr Frank Adu (JNR) Chairman of the NHIC called for a review of the country's procurement law since it contained bottlenecks, which undermined efforts to import vehicles to facilitate the progress of the NHIS.

He said the community penetration rate of 38 per cent would have shot to 52 per cent if the vehicles had arrived in the country on time. Mr Adu asked the media to carry out objective reports about the NHIS, saying some journalists and social commentators perceive the programme as partisan when it is national in character. Mr Ras Boateng, Executive Secretary of the NHIS said the district mutual health insurance schemes had supported the NHIS despite inadequate logistics and challenges.