Mr Lawrence Amartey, Greater Accra Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has called on every Ghanaian to join the health insurance scheme.

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is the most affordable way to access quality health care, Mr Amrtey said at Dangme East District during a stakeholders’ engagement seminar.

He said since the introduction of the Biometric Membership System (BMS) there has been a great improvement in the administration of the scheme.

“We are using the BMS to eliminate fraud, delay in issuing of cards and other challenges since it was first introduced on 2004,” he said.

He said staffs administering the BMS registration are skilled “so one does not need to spend too much time in acquiring an NHIS card- a minimum of five minutes (is what you spend) and your card is in your hands,” he said.

Mr Amartey said in future, health data of subscribers will be captured on their NHIS card and “just by swiping the card in a machine, medical professionals will have access to the health records of the patient”.

Mrs Lydia Adjei-Tutu, Acting Scheme Manager of the Dagme West District, appealed for support for people living on the island “as it is difficult now for the people on the island to access both the scheme and health care”.

She said the island is sparsely populated with scattered settlements and it is difficult for the NHIA workers to reach the people.

Concerns were raised by participants of the seminar as to the kinds of drugs that should be signed onto the scheme and the need for an improvement if possible.

Nene Tsatsu Pediator IV, Asafoatsengua of Kudragbe Clan, said a land has been provided to the scheme operators to build their own office.

Nene Pediator IV commended stakeholders and NHIA officials for making the engagement a reality and urged that delay of payments to agents should be avoided if possible.