Some of the beneficiaries going through the registration for their NHIS cards

4,000 Vulnerable persons in Ningo-Prampram sign onto NHIS

Jennifer Ansah Health Oct - 30 - 2018 , 15:50

Four thousand vulnerable persons from 25 communities in the Ningo-Prampram District in the Greater Accra Region are to benefit from a free National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) registration under the Ghana Luxembourg Social Trust (GLST) project.

At a ceremony to re-launch the scheme at Ningo-Prampram, the Deputy Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Mrs Gifty Twum Ampofo, observed that the registration exercise which began in November 2017 had been re-visited to expand its coverage.

She said the exercise formed part of the government’s effort to allow the underprivileged to access free medical care.

The GLST is an initiative of the government to provide cash grants to the extremely poor and vulnerable persons in the society to enable them to meet their basic health needs.

The beneficiaries include children, the aged, pregnant women, orphans, persons with disabilities, women and infants to be selected from communities such as New Ningo, Tsopoli, Asutsuare, Kasunya, Ayetepah, Ahwiam, Someh Dawa, Huapa, Agotor and Adokope Natriku.

Beneficiaries

Mrs Ampofo said the exercise was targeted at improving maternal and child health status of low-income groups.

She said the GLST project was also aimed at relieving the extremely poor population of financial burdens in accessing health care.

“We hope to provide about 4,000 indigenes with free and valid NHIS cards, as well as provide about 2,500 children aged between zero to 17 with birth certificates in the district before the end of the year,” the deputy minister added.

Ghana’s economic growth, Mrs Ampofo stated, had been quite remarkable over the last two decades, noting that, poverty had declined significantly in Ghana since 1991 from 28.5 per cent in 2002 and 2003 to 24.5 per cent in 2013/2014.

The Director for Social Protection, Dr Rita Owusu Amankwah, said “as a ministry, we are very much concerned about the welfare of the poor and destitute in our society and we do understand their plight in accessing health care and we will not relent in our commitment to empower and support the extremely poor and vulnerable”.