Ahenkro (Ash), Oct 19, GNA - Only 15,000 out of the over 120,000 inhabitants in the Afigya-Sekyere District have so far registered to participate in the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Mr. Ben Abankwa, District Chief Executive, made this known at the presentation of three sets of gari processing machines to three communities in the Afigya-Sekyere West constituency at Ahenkro on Tuesday.

The machines were manufactured by the Asante-Mampong branch of the GRATIS Foundation at a total cost of 131 million cedis. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) funded it.

The beneficiary communities were Ahenkro, Kyekyewere and Boamang. Mr Abankwa said the district had been selected among the 43 districts, which had been allocated 300 million cedis each to support their NHIS, and advised the people to register to enable them to benefit from quality health delivery.

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Communications, who presented the machines to the people, called for unity and peace in the area to ensure speedy development.

He said the government was committed to the creation of the necessary environment for self-employment and appealed to the people to take advantage of the provision of the machines to improve their living conditions.

Mr Kan-Dapaah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, said streetlights would soon be provided in the town and urged the people to embrace the NHIS and register in order to benefit from quality health care delivery.

Nana Kwabena Wirempem, Nifahene of Ahenkro, who chaired the function, thanked the government for the numerous projects being executed in the district.

He said the machines would go a long way to benefit the people especially women in the area to expand their activities.