Sekondi, Jan. 26, GNA - The Sekondi Sub-Metropolitan National Health Insurance Scheme was adjudged the best performing scheme in the Western Region last year.

The Sekondi Sub-Metropolitan NHIS Manager, Mr. Charles Osei Amoako Enti, told the GNA that the award was presented to him by the National Health Insurance Authority Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sylvester Mensah, in Accra.

The award included a certificate and a table top refrigerator.

Mr. Enti said the Scheme had shown efficiency in its operations such as prompt payment of claims to service providers, excellent human relations with clients, early distribution of NHIS cards to people that register with the scheme among others.

He said last year the scheme took the registration of people to the communities within its operational areas and reduced the premium from GHc22. to GHc15 as well as going to the communities to distribute the NHIS cards of clients who had registered with the scheme.

Mr Enti said it collaborated with the Information Service Department to sensitize people in churches, mosques and markets on the need to register with the scheme and was able to register 11,000 new clients and renewed the NHIS cards of over 40,000 clients.

He said out of 32 health facilities that the scheme worked with, 216,708 clients from the scheme attended Out Patient Department (OPD) and In Patient Department (IPD) for treatment and other health services.

He advised the clients who had registered with the scheme not to wait till their NHIS cards expired before renewing them but should rather renew them few months before expiring to avoid any inconveniences.

Mr. Enti also advised clients to keep to one particular health facility that had records of their health history rather than moving from one health facility to the other.