About 500 aged people in the Asokore-Mampong Municipality have benefitted from the free National Health Insurance registration programme launched by the government.

This is to help them enjoy improved access to quality health care.

The beneficiaries- all aged above 65, were registered during a special exercise jointly carried out by the Gender, Children and Social Protection Ministry and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in Asokore-Mampong.

A total of 4,200 old men and women in three regions- Greater Accra, Volta and Central, are already on the programme.

Nana Oye Lithur, the Minister said its extension to the Ashanti region tied in with the government’s goal of making life less stressful for senior citizens across the nation.

She hailed the decision by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) to fund the cost of the Urban Senior Citizens Card in the Metropolis that would enable the aged to ride on Metro Mass Transit buses at half the fare and also avoid joining queues at the hospitals and banking halls.

Mr Ben Kusi, the NHIS Director for Membership and Regional Operation spoke of the introduction of a toll free phone number to aid them to make enquiries and complaints relating to challenges in the use of the NHIS cards.