Gambaga (N/R), August 14, GNA - The Management of the East Mamprusi District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme (DMHIS) in the Northern Region, on Thursday advised members to renew their expired cards. Speaking at the Scheme's second Annual General Meeting at Gambaga in the Northern Region Mr Sylvanus Aga Alo, Board Chairman of the Scheme said many registered people had not accessed healthcare because of their reluctance to pay for the renewal of their membership. This he said was affecting the operation of the Scheme. He said such members should not forget that they could become sick at any time and may not be able to afford to access healthcare without the renewal of their card.

Mr Alo advised people who are abusing the Scheme to desist from that act saying, there were instances where beneficiaries had used their cards collect medicines for either their relatives or friends. He said health providers sometimes also over prescribed drugs. The Scheme Manager, Mr Sulemana Elijah Abudulai said that the Scheme, which commenced in the District in 2005 with 17,426 members currently, had a total of 74,048 members representing 52 per cent of the District population.

He said it had disbursed a total amount of 593,678.84 Ghana cedis to service providers against 75,949 number of attendance. Mr Abudulai expressed worry that with the ongoing registration of pregnant women for free healthcare, the free registration of school children, and the introduction of the new tariffs, claim payments might be difficult.

He said it would also cause the work load on staffs to increase and therefore appealed to the National Health Insurance Authority to institute better remuneration package for staffs. Mr Peter Wuni, District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area, entreated people who had not registered with the scheme to do so to enable them access affordable healthcare. He asked people to attach much attention to environmental sanitation so as to minimize the incidence of diseases like malaria and cholera.

The DCE urged the people in the region to preach political tolerance and peace as the country prepared for the December 7, 2008 polls. "Before partisan politics, we were one people and will continue to be one people with a common destiny", he added.