Tema, June 27, GNA -- The Directorate of Tema Metropolitan Health Insurance Scheme paid GH¢1,651,401.84 as claims to health service providers in the metropolis by the end of May this year. The directorate paid GH¢1,240,851.49 as claims between January-December 2007.

Mr David Quaye Annang, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive disclosed this when addressing the first ordinary meeting of the second session of Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) at Tema. He observed that due to the availability of the scheme, clients reported all types of illness at health facilities leading to the increase in claims paid. Mr Annang said the scheme had registered 202,877 clients out of which 171,055 had received their identity cards. However, he said the delay in the issuance of the remaining identity cards were due to the increase in registration during its mass registration exercise at the end of last year. Mr Annang said the directorate had projected to register 60 per cent of the people in the metropolis by the end of this year. He noted that the scheme which had 21 permanent registration centres in addition to its head office had contracts with 40 health care providers in the metropolis.

On HIV/AIDS infection in the metropolis, Mr Annang said it had 3.2 per cent HIV/AIDS prevalence rate as against 3.1 per cent in Greater Accra Region and 1.9 per cent prevalence rate in the country. He said to curb its spread in the metropolis, eight organizations involved in educating the public on the pandemic had been selected to benefit from a GH¢17,600 fund for the implementation of their activities. Mr Annang said the Metropolitan AIDS Committee had set up a result-based monitoring strategy to measure specifically the impact of activities of the eight organizations on their target populations as stated in their proposals to the assembly. He said as part of measures to intensify awareness on the pandemic, an HIV/AIDS Documentation Centre was being established at the National Youth Centre at the Tema Community Centre to assist all interested people with information on the disease.

Mr Annang said a draft workplace HIV/AIDS policy for the metropolis had been designed to regulate not only the manner people living with the disease should be treated at their workplace but also to provide a comprehensive institutional guidelines to effectively manage HIV/AIDS issues at the workplace for workers and their families.