Bolgatanga, Feb 27, GNA- The Upper East Deputy Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni, at the weekend, cut the sod for the construction of a regional office of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) in Bolgatanga. The Project which is a one-story office complex would contain offices and a conference room is valued at six hundred and fifty thousand Ghana cedis.

Mrs Awuni explained that the construction of the facility was in fulfillment of Government's intention to provide adequate office accommodation for the Scheme in all the ten regions of the country. This she indicated would help decentralize the NHIA to oversee and ensure easy access to affordable health care.

Mrs Awuni said she was very happy that the Scheme in the Region had been able to cover 80.19 per cent as at December 31st, 2010 and urged the Management and staff to continue to do more by registering more people. She pointed out that there were six Mutual Health Insurance Schemes in the Region operating in nine politico-administrative Districts and said the newly created Districts Garu-Tempane, Talensi Nabdam and Kassena Nankana West Districts were not in the scheme.

The Regional Manager of the Scheme, Mr Ayine Apus said that when the project is completed it would help address the office accommodation problem= s which was one of the major hindrances to the operation of the Scheme in the Region. He announced to the people in the region that the NHIA had reviewed th= e medicines list which would cater for the subscribers.

He stated that the one term premium of the Scheme would soon take plac= e as soon as a team of experts from NHIA and Ministry of Health finished working on it