Koforidua, Feb. 18, GNA - An Appeal has gone to the National Health Insurance Council(NHIC) and the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana to encourage more pharmacists and chemical sellers to obtain accreditation under the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) to enable them to offer effective support towards the success of the scheme in deprived districts.

Members of the newly-formed District Health Insurance Vigilance Committees (DHIVCs) from the Birim North and the Afram Plains Districts in the Eastern Region made the appeal at a three-day sensitization workshop on the scheme monitoring at Koforidua.0 They cited the Birim North District where only one chemical seller had so far applied to the NHIC to be accredited as a Service Provider where more than have registered with the District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme(DMHIS) and depend on four hospitals outside the District for health care delivery.

The hospitals include the Holy Family Hospital, Nkawkaw; St Dominic Hospital, Akwatia; the Kwahu Government Hospital, Atibie and the Oda Government Hospital. Only two clinics run by the Catholic Church at Ntronang and Ofoase are the only health facilities located within the District.

The workshop, which was organized by the Centre for the Development of Peoples (CEDEP), a Kumasi-based non-governmental organisation, brought together Scheme Managers and civil society representatives from the two deprived Districts selected from the Eastern Region for a pilot monitoring of the implementation of the District Mutual Health Insurance Schemes (DMHIS) by the DHIVCs. Topics treated included the NHIS Act, the Legislative Instrument, social mobilization and advocacy.

Opening the workshop, the Programme Manager of the CEDEP in-charge of Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr Joseph Owusu reminded the participants that their role was to liaise with the stakeholders including scheme managers, service providers and the clients to ensure the effective implementation of the scheme in their areas. He asked them to educate the people to change from their apathetic attitude towards the health insurance scheme, saying they should disabuse their minds about the negative political propaganda against the scheme "since all the political parties agreed on the need for the scheme except the time for its implementation".