Foundation registers children under NHIS
A foundation committed to the welfare of underprivileged children is collaborating with the Human Trafficking Secretariat of the Ministry Of Gender, Children and Social Protection and other related bodies, to register children under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
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Also working with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, the Women Missionary Union of Ghana Baptist Convention and the NHIS, the organisation, Se eye wo ba anka (SEWA), literally meaning ‘if it were your child’, has registered 600 underprivileged children under the scheme.
It targets street children, children of female porters (kayayei) at Tudu, Tema Station, CMB and the Kantamanto Railways Station and 240 children at the Mallam Atta Market, all in Accra.
The aim of the programme is to enable the children to access quality health care. The next station for registration is the Madina Market.
In an address, the Chief Executive of SEWA Foundation, Mr Jones Owusu Yeboah, advised the female porters not to leave their children with their younger siblings, since they in turn left them by the roadside and exposed them to danger.
He urged them to be concerned about the safety of their children and encouraged them to practise personal hygiene and keep their surroundings clean to avoid contracting diseases. He also stressed the need to encourage parents to register with the NHIS and use the NHIS cards to access healthcare to reduce child mortality resulting from diseases such as malaria which are covered by the NHIS.
Mr Owusu Yeboah said SEWA had signed a partnership agreement with Felicity Boahene Cancer Foundation to ensure the welfare of women and children, adding that under the partnership, SEWA Foundation would concentrate on registering about 10,000 underprivileged children in rural communities under the NHIS, while Felicity Boahene Cancer Foundation would screen women for cancer and offer them opportunities to access their healthcare services.
In her remarks, the Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur advised the female porters and parents of the street children to take the registration seriously and also invite their friends to participate in the exercise.
Daily Graphic/Ghana
