Tamale, Nov. 04, GNA- The Tamale Metropolitan Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (TMMIS), last year, provided services to over 8,842 people while it paid 15 million cedis as hospital bills. As at July 2007, about 26,887 people had benefited from the scheme with an additional 20,000 people expected to benefit from it by the close of the year.

Mr. Mahama Sayibu Imoro, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees announced this at the First Annual General Meeting of the Scheme in Tamale.

He said the scheme had signed contracts with all public service providers and some private organisations in the Metropolis to enable the members to have a wide range of provider options to choose from. He said the scheme was also collaborating with sister schemes in the country to ensure that registered members still benefited from health services even when they travelled outside the Metropolis. Mr. Imoro said the scheme registered 90,974 people out of a total population of 300,000 people in the Metropolis last year, adding that the number increased to 151,234 by the close of September 2007, representing an increase of about 66.2 per cent. He said the scheme was expected to cover 200,000 people by the end of this year.

The scheme's registration, he said, covered social groups from both the formal and informal sectors, noting that the Tamale Mutual Health Insurance Scheme was among the biggest in the country in terms of registration.

The Board Chairman said the scheme had been able to meet all its financial obligations to its service providers adding: "Our scheme is financially buoyant". He said the success chalked by the scheme had fostered rapid growth and popular participation by community members and this had precipitated a very high level of enthusiasm among staff and other stakeholders.

Mr. Imoro commended the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly for offering a modern office complex to the scheme, saying that this had helped to improve upon the quality of service delivery of the scheme. The Board Chairman said there were however some challenges facing the scheme, mentioning complaints of delays in the issuance of ID cards, long queues at service provision points, some prescriptions not covered by the scheme and negative perceptions about the scheme by some people. Dr. Daniel Tapang, Chief Executive Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, commended the scheme implementers for their good work and assured them that the hospital would continue to give them the necessary support. 04 Nov. 07