By Philip Tengzu
Wa, (UW/R), March 29, GNA – Mr Samuel Lobber Lekamwe, the Upper West Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), has announced that the authority has achieved Universal Health Coverage (UHC) as well as exceeded its target for 2022.
The Authority covered a total active membership of 744,721, which represented 81 per cent of the region’s total population of 922,237, exceeding the 80 per cent minimum membership entry requirement for UHC.
This makes the region exceed its set target of 742,790 for the year under review, representing 100.3 per cent.
Mr Lekamwe announced this during the Authority’s 2022 Annual Regional Performance Review Meeting and Media Briefing on the theme: “Sustaining Our Gains on Universal Health Coverage – A Collective Responsibility.”
“The above performance puts the Upper West Region as the only region together with the Bono region in the country to attain UHC in terms of membership for two consecutive years.
However, the region also distinguished itself from the Bono region as the only region in the country that exceeded its annual membership target and proceeded to cover 81 per cent of its population,” he explained.
The Upper West Regional NHIA saw a steady increase in the population coverage with an increase in the coverage from 76 per cent in 2020 to 80 per cent in 2021 and 81 per cent in 2022.
On mobile renewal, using the code *929#, the region achieved 92 per cent of its target for 2022 recording 236,042 against a target of 257,763 within the year.
The Regional Director attributed the success chalked to the “good people of the region for their continuous trust in the Scheme to ensure financial access to their healthcare needs.”
Mr Lekamwe also indicated that his outfit made remarkable achievements in covering vulnerable people by registering 227,000 of them into the scheme against a target of 180,000 for the year under review.
He said despite their striving to serve the people they were faced with many challenges including illegal charges by service providers affecting members’ confidence and renewal, and an inadequate number of staff at the district offices.
Other challenges identified were the excessive cost of medicines, poor road network, and poor telecommunication network services which also affected mobile renewals and offsite registration, among others.
Mr Lekamwe explained that as part of efforts to end the menace of illegal fee charging, the Authority had strengthened its monitoring mechanism at the health facilities to ensure compliance by the service providers.
He explained that the Authority had strengthened its engagement with relevant stakeholders, introduced a non-biometric authentication system at the service provider points, and rolled out the linking of the NHIA and Ghana cards among others to help improve their service to the population.
He also encouraged the public to use the *929# short code to renew their NHIS card or to link it with the Ghana card saying, “After that, you can use your merged Ghana card to access health care.”
Mr Titus Sorey, the Northern Belt Director of the NHIA, commended Mr Lekamwe and his team for the achievement and said the region would be an example for other regions to follow.
“We have worked together over the years and consistently we have maintained our performance. Over the years, Upper West has never fallen below the second position and I am happy we have been able to maintain this story.
“I am very impressed and Upper West certainly is a region for others to emulate because, of the five regions in the north, it is only Upper West that has achieved UHC,” Mr Sorey explained.
Mr Issahaku Nuhu Putiaha, a former Wa Municipal Chief Executive, who chaired the Meeting, entreated Mr Lekamwe and his team to strive to maintain the feat and to improve it.
“My prayer is that there shouldn’t be any situation that will cause us to retrogress in our achievement, that will not be good for us,” Mr Putiaha, who was also a former NHIA District Director, said.
GNA