Mrs. Stella Adu Amankwah, Acting Director of Cooperate Affairs, National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has urged Ghanaians who have not yet joined the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to do so in order to enjoy the numerous benefit the package offers.

She underscored the need for all and sundry to take the scheme very serious and not to wait until they fell sick before they registered.

Mrs. Adu Amankwah made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the end of separate community durbars organized by the Mfantseman District Office of the NHIS at Abeadze Dominase and Mankessim.

The Family Planning Pilot Project which is being implemented by the NHIA, is in collaboration with the Population Council, Ghana Health Service and Marie Stopes International on the inclusion of six (6) Clinical Family Planning Methods onto the NHIS namely: One-month injection, Three months injectable, implants, IUD, Vasectomy and Tubal Ligation.

Mrs Adu Amankwah stated that the inclusion of Family Planning on the NHIA sought to help women to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancies as well as help them to space their deliveries.

The effort, she said, was to enable families to save enough money to cater for their children.

She, therefore, advised men to encourage their wives to patronize the services since it would inure to the benefit of the nation as a whole.

Dr. Mark Nii Lamptey, the Manager of Mfantseman District NHIS, intimated that the inclusion of Family Planning onto the NHIS being piloted in the District commenced on May, 1st 2018.

The adoption of Family Planning Methods, Dr Lamptey said, would translate into improved living standards of households and the entire community members.

Miss Comfort Antwi, the Mfantsiman District Public Health Nurse, took the gathering through the types of contraceptives and other family planning devices, which included intrauterine, Implant, sterilization tubal ligation, male sterilization or vasectomy, and Depo-Provera injectable.

She described Family Planning as a right of every individual, which enables couples to decide the number of children they wanted and when to have them. She said properly planned families enjoyed improved quality of life and expressed the hope that the services would be patronized.

Nana Kwesi Korankyi, Ebusuapanin of Abeadze Dominase Paramount Stool chaired the durbar at Dominiase, while Nana Dr. Ama Amissah III, Queen Mother of Mankessim Traditional Area, chaired the one held at Mankessim.