Sunyani June 12, GNA - A total number of 119,106 persons have registered for the Sunyani Municipal Health Insurance Scheme, representing 58.96 per cent of the population in the municipality. Mr. Kwame Gyamfi, Municipal Scheme Manager, made this known at a one-day capacity building workshop for field officers and community committee chairmen of the scheme in Sunyani.

He said the Scheme registered 30,225 persons so far this year as against 88,881 last year.

A total of 1.9 billion cedis was collected as premiums in this year's exercise as against 2.2 billion cedis collected last year, he added.

Mr. Gyamfi said the scheme had so far paid a total of 5,868,227,404 cedis to health providers since it started operating in September 2005 to April 2006, with a corresponding attendance of 107,283 patients.

The Scheme Manager said 68,749 females and 38,534 males had benefited from the Scheme.

He mentioned poor human relationship on the part of the field workers towards clients, inadequate investigations, incomplete information and spelling mistakes as some of the problems encountered in the registration exercise.

Mr. Gyamfi urged the scheme's officials to take their time in writing information provided by clients, to conduct proper investigations and to try to build cordial relationship with clients. He warned that any officer who misappropriated or mishandled the Scheme's funds would be made to face the full rigours of the law. The Scheme Manager asked the field workers to save monies realized within 24 hours and to present bank receipts to the Scheme Office. He advised those who could not register during the exercise to do so in the renewal registration of old clients that would start on June 8, this year.