The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) enrols forty thousand (40,000) people at day, says the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).

This figure consists of registrations and membership renewals undertaken by all NHIS district offices and registration centres across the country.

Deputy Director of Communications at the NHIA, Selorm Adonoo told Onantifuor on Ahotor FM’s Nyansapor program on Saturday that the NHIS has seen ample rise in its membership and the public interest in the scheme keeps growing. According to him, “an average of 40,000 people enrol onto the NHIS every day.”

“40,000 people coming through our offices every day, is quite a number. I think it is an indication of high public confidence in the NHIS. This explains why our registration centres and district offices are constantly packed with people, some of whom come very early in the morning so they can beat the high numbers,”Mr Adonoo mentioned.

According to Mr Adonoo, the preoccupation of the NHIA is to ensure that “the process of acquiring the NHIS card is more convenient than it is now.

“Ordinarily, it takes between 10 to 15 minutes to get a card when one sits behind the machine. However, due to the numbers, we are introducing innovations to make it more convenient. An example of what we are about to outdoor is the multiyear renewal where NHIS members will have the option of enrolling for two to four years at a go without having to come to the office yearly to renew their membership. This will be more cost-effective, time-saving and convenient for our members as they would save time and transportation cost to the office annually,” he assured.

Daily enrollment onto the NHIS in 2005 was just about 3,500, but Mr Adonoo says comparing this to the 40,000 people-a-day recorded currently is evidence of the growing status of the scheme and its popularity.

Responding to issues about challenges of the scheme, he said the NHIA like any institution has its fair share of challenges. He was nevertheless quick to add that the existence of challenges rather strengthens the resolve of administrators of the scheme to keep finding solutions to issues that may arise in the implementation of the NHIS program.

The NHIS has been in full operation since 2005, and in September 2015 a comprehensive review of the scheme was commissioned by President Mahama. Industry players say this is the first time such a review has been instituted and the process, when completed, will among other things propose reforms that will re-position the scheme to better take on the challenges of the future. Membership of the NHIS stood at 11.3 million in December 2015 from 1.3 million in 2005.