Winneba (C/R), May 23, GNA - The Management of the Awutu-Effutu-Senya Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) have denied media reports that the Scheme collects 50 Ghana Pesewas cedis from prospective clients before processing their Health Insurance ID Cards for them.

At an emergency meeting, Mr Christopher L. Oddoye, the Scheme Manager, described bribery allegations levelled against the Scheme as a blatant lie calculated to undermine the good works put up by the Scheme Managers.

Mr Oddoye said that, investigations conducted by the Public Relations Unit of the Scheme clearly indicated that the false media reports were perpetrated by some disgruntled elements in the area who have joined forces with certain self-styled journalists who worked for an Accra-based electronic media house. Mr Oddoye said that the National Health Insurance Scheme has reached a point where no amount of destructive elements could reverse the clock of the system.

On his part, Mr Joseph Yaw Owusu-Kwarteng, the Public Relations Officer of the Scheme challenged reporters involved in the perpetration of the false news to come forward for facts about the Scheme and stop presenting falsehood to the public.

Mr Owusu-Kwarteng said that the doors of the Scheme were wide open, adding that workers of the Scheme were poised to deliver more credible service to sustain and move the National Health Insurance Scheme forward.

He assured both the government and clients of the Awutu-Effutu-Senya Mutual Health Insurance Scheme that workers of the Scheme would continue to maintain their avowed target of ensuring the total success of the NHIS and would not allow any move by the enemies of the state to detract their focus. He maintained that it was absolutely wrong and unethical for any investigative media personnel to present unbalanced report to the public.

It was incumbent, therefore, on all accredited media representatives operating in the rural setting to always take pains to investigate every information that come their way thoroughly before publishing them.

Mr. Owusu-Kwarteng said that the Awutu-Effutu-Senya Mutual Health Insurance Scheme is a state-owned organization which cannot operate in an isolation, or insolate itself from public scrutiny, hence the call on citizenry including, media personnel wishing to know more about its operations to approach the Management of the Scheme whenever the need arose for facts about the Scheme and not to rely on hearsay.