By Erica Apeatua Addo
Subri (W/R), Nov. 01, GNA-Five hundred residents from Subri, a town in the Wassa East District, have received support from the Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) to register and renew their National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) membership cards.
The exercise, by the Foundation, was to enable the beneficiaries to have access to quality healthcare.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) after the exercise, Mr Abdul Razak Yakubu, Executive Secretary of the Foundation, said access to quality healthcare had been a challenge and that most often the health facilities existed, but the residents did not have the required resources to access these facilities.
He said it had been years ago when the government introduced the NHIS, but individuals in the Subri community still have to spend about a GHc100 on transportation and others to get to the NHIS office in Tarkwa to either register or renew their card.
So, the GFGF decided to assist the NHIS secretariat in Tarkwa to move down to Subri to register many people and also renew the premium for those whose cards had expired.
He said: “This has eliminated that barrier of spending so much money to travel to Tarkwa for one to be enrolled in the scheme.”
Mr Yakubu said the Foundation would continue to assist the NHIS secretariat to visit more communities where they would have a better platform to sensitize the public on the scheme.
“This will not be the end, GFGF will continue to help the National Health Insurance secretariat to build their capacity, assist them to travel, to move from their office to the communities.
“They will be going to the radio stations to educate the people of Tarkwa, Damang, Huni-Valley, Aboso and its environs on the benefits of the NHIS after which the Foundation will pick the bill,” he added.
Mr Ebenezer Anane Atuahene, Public Relations Officer (PRO), at the Scheme, said through the GFGF, hundreds of people have benefited from the exercise.
He thanked the Foundation for complementing the efforts of the scheme, adding that it would help enhance their work.
GNA