General News of Monday, 16 September 2002

Source: Chronicle

Hundreds Benefit From Okwahuman Health Scheme

THE OKWAHUMAN Health Insurance Scheme (OHIS), which was established by the two main hospitals in the Kwahu South District, Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw and the Kwahu Government Hospital at Atibie to enhance quality and affordable health care in the area has started yielding fruitful results to its members.

So far, about one hundred of its registered members who got sick and went to the two hospitals for treatment went home rejoicing after they were discharged since they did not pay any hospital bills running into over ?20 million.

Speaking to the press, the Manager of the scheme, Mr. Collins Akuamoa Danso stated that the scheme's assistance to its members in June this year. He said at the close of registration in March this year, 8,441 people have registered with a premium of ?20,000 each, yielding ?168.8 million.

Danso said, they targeted about 80,000 people taking the size of population in the area into consideration and hoped that now that many people have seen and enjoyed the benefit of the scheme, the membership will increase when registration re-opens in October this year.

The initiator of the scheme, Mr. Alex Ofori Mensah, who is also the administrator of the Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital expressed the scheme's gratitude to Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) for their immense contribution and assistance towards the establishment of the OHIS and others in the country to enhance health delivery. He urged the people in the area to take advantage of the re-opening of registration in October, this year, to enable them benefit from the scheme to ensure efficiency and affordable health delivery.

Many of the beneficiaries who, some of them were supposed to have paid as much as ?1.7 million hospital bill commended the initiators of the scheme and appealed to them to expand it to cover more areas outside its catchment area since the health insurance scheme is the only sure way to better, efficient and affordable health delivery in the country.