The Wa Municipal National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is currently registering a total of 165 inmates of the Wa Central Prisons under the free special registration for vulnerable groups within the municipality.

The free special registration exercise also covers 135 basic schools with total population of 34,284 students under the school feeding and free school uniform programmes.

The gesture again includes pregnant women, pupils in orphanages and special schools such as the Wa School for the Blind and the Wa School for the Deaf as well as beneficiaries of the Livelihood Empowerment against Poverty (LEAP) Programme in 40 communities within the municipality.

Celine Saayeng, the Wa Municipal NHIS Manager who briefed Ghana News Agency on the exercise assured that the scheme would be able to cover all the category of people before the end of 2015.

She explained that the initiative was aimed at ensuring all vulnerable groups were enrolled free of charge onto the scheme to enable them have access to free and quality health care services.

“People who are poor and vulnerable and cannot afford to register themselves should not be denied the opportunity to access free health care but rather should be assisted to register and also enjoy the same services enjoyed by those who can afford,” she said.

She said ensuring equity in health care services was very paramount for the NHIS, hence its resolve to make sure that continue to be a reality especially for the most vulnerable and less privilege in society.

She appealed to all identified beneficiaries to ensure that they avail themselves for the registration when the team came to them, advising beneficiaries not to abuse the opportunity but rather embrace it to shred off the health care burden on them.