Accra, Dec 7, GNA - Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor, Minister for Health on Monday said over thirteen million eight hundred thousand (13,800,000) persons had registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme since its inception in 2005.
He said the scheme had also produced over 12 million cards, representing 87 percent of the registered members for their clients. Dr. Kunbuor, who was answering a question from Mr. John Agyabeng, Member of Parliament for Agona East on the current state of the National Health Insurance Scheme said, over 721,000 pregnant women had been registered as new members under the free Medical Care policy since July 2008.
He announced that the National Health Insurance Authority was implementing a common Information Communication Technology (ICT) platform that would enhance portability, standardization, member authentication, finance and supply chain and claims administration, to facilitate the running of the scheme on-line everywhere in the country.
Dr. Kunbuor said 870 sites comprising 145 District schemes, 714 provider sites, and eleven National Health Insurance Authority sites, covering the ten regions had been hooked, whilst 4.5 million subscribers had already received the uniform cards underway for all subscribers. The Minister for Health said the Authority had also embarked on electronic claims submission and vetting on a pilot basis in partnership with Mamobi Polyclinic in Accra, and if it was successful, it would be replicated in other areas of the country.
He called for the review of the National Health Insurance Scheme law=
(Act 650), to help improve on the scheme.
On allegations of using the scheme's funds for treasury bills, the Minister said there were a lot of such allegations and his outfit would n= ot hesitate to institute investigations to unearth the truth when it was necessary.