Donkorkrom (E/R), March 22, GNA - The Kwahu North District Assembly has established 20 registration centres at the cost of 25 million cedis in the various communities in the District to enable more people to register for the District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme. This would enable the people who are predominantly farmers to access affordable health care to boost agricultural output during the implementation of the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) and the Afram Plains Agricultural Development project.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Donkorkrom, Mr Solomon Fordjour, the District Chief Executive, said since farming required healthy people and over 90 per cent of the population of the district were farmers, the assembly would do everything possible for more people to register to ensure the success of the scheme in the district. The District Manager of the Scheme, Mr Daniel Larbi-Donkor expressed his appreciation for the continuous support of the assembly since the inception of the scheme,

He expressed the hope that the establishment of the centres would enable the scheme to achieve the 60 per cent target set for this year. Mr Larbi-Donkor said the scheme has registered 52,421 people representing 38.7 percent of the population of the district as at March 15, this year, and was also able to mobilize 948,364,000 as premium for 2007.

The Manager said, last year, the scheme paid 3,018,477,744 cedis to its service providers on behalf of 48,364 members of the scheme at the Out Patients Department at various health institutions in the district. He said for the inpatient department, the scheme paid 1,242,513,832 on behalf of 1,149 members last year.

Mr Larbi-Donkor commended the National Health Insurance Council for releasing subsidy to the scheme on time for prompt payment of services rendered by their clients.

He expressed his gratitude to the district health management team, headed by Dr Augustine Ankuvie for the release of their boat and outboard motors to the scheme for an outreach programme for 147 communities on the Dwarf and Digya Islands in the Afram Plains. March 22, 2007