The Obuasi Office of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) on Tuesday, 4th December, 2018 in a stakeholder forum unveiled the New NHIS Mobile Renewal and Digital Authentication policy which would allow users to renew their Health Insurance on their mobile phones when it is out of date.
The new policy which is introduced to relieve workers and customers of the burden of congestion in all NHIS District offices is scheduled to be launched officially by the President of the Republic in Accra before its operation in the beginning of 2019 according to management.
In an address, the Manager of the Obuasi office of NHIS, Mr. Confidence Owusu Kontoh stressed on how the previous renewal policy suffered variety of operational inefficiencies and hitches which contributed to mass reduction in the patronage of the scheme, as evidenced in a survey which indicate that only 42% of the entire Ghanaian population are registered under NHIS after 15 years of existence.
He indicated that the new policy is designed for renewal fees to be paid through the Mobile Money system to reduce waiting times and long queues in the district offices, to improve renewal processes as well as checking of policy validity without the need of NHIS card.
The new development would enable registered NHIS users to be notified ahead of expiry dates in order to deal with the uncertainties that members may encounter and also prevent the situation where others are denied access to medical care in hospitals due to notification of expiry at point of claim, he remarked.
Stakeholders were taken through the new easy and convenient process using the short code *929# in a move to intensify publicity on the new policy. The Obuasi NHIS also appealed to the media to sensitize the general public on the new renewal policy.
The District Chief Executive of Obuasi East District Assembly, Honourable Faustina Amissah lauded the NHIS for introducing the new policy and urged Assembly members who hither to served as volunteers in registering and renewing community members under the previous NHIS, which led to instances where they were blamed for delays encountered and had to bear the cost of members hospital bills during emergency situations, to embrace the policy and educate their electorates on its implementation.