Obuasi (Ash), June 9, GNA - Four thousand, one hundred and seventy-nine workers of AngloGold Ashanti, who registered with the Obuasi Municipal Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (OMMHIS), contributed 700 million cedis out of the total 1.05 billion cedis collected as premiums by the scheme.

Mrs Edna Gyau Baffour, the Scheme Manager, announced this at a ceremony at Obuasi, where 3,148 of the workers were presented with their identity cards.

In all, the scheme is going to offer free medical care to 11,131 people, constituting the workers and their families. Mrs Baffour said the remaining 1,031 workers could not have their ID cards processed due to technical problems, such as failure to provide their SSNIT numbers, workplace badge numbers and photographs. She gave the assurance that her office would address all the problems related to the remaining workers. Presenting the ID cards to the company, Mr Joe Boampong, the Municipal Chief Executive, said, despite the short existence of the scheme, a total number of 125,841 people had fully registered with it. He announced that as at the end of last month, a total amount of 362.1 million cedis had been paid to the various health facilities, as cost of services rendered under the scheme for beneficiaries in the form of claims settlement.

The Municipal Chief Executive said to get more people registered in the municipality; the scheme had introduced innovation into the premium collection by establishing 13 health insurance pay points at strategic places to facilitate premium payments.

"Our plan is to bring the health insurance to the doorstep of every resident in the municipality", Mr Boampong emphasized. Mr Hussein Abugri, the acting General manager of AngloGold Ashanti (Obuasi), who received the cards on behalf of the company, said the presentation of the cards was going to solve the major headaches the company faced in respect of health care delivery. He said the company was going to work closely with the management of the scheme to address the problems associated with the over 1,000 workers.