East Sissala registers 59 per cent of its population

Tumu, Sept. 30, GNA - The East Sissala District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme has registered 30,022 people from the formal and informal sectors as at the end of August, representing 59 per cent of the total population of the district. It has realised 620,172,000 cedis as at the end of June from the informal sector and received a subsidy of 2,361,860,000 cedis from the government.

The scheme also disbursed 1,335,277,180.83 cedis to service providers and sister schemes throughout the country as at May. Madam Salia Catherine, Acting Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the East Sissala Mutual Health Insurance Scheme, said this at the general meeting of the board at Tumu on Saturday. She said the board was mindful of the numerous challenges confronting the operations and management of the scheme and gave the assurance that the board would provide the necessary logistics for the smooth implementation of the scheme.

The Chairperson commended personnel of the scheme for covering all the 65 health insurance communities to sensitise the people about government's health insurance policy. Madam Catherine said people in the district had no access to healthcare in the past because of the high cost involved and had to stay at home even in critical times when they were expected to go for medical attention.

This situation, she said, promoted the high incidence of self-medication and appealed to people in the district to patronize the scheme.

Mr. Solomon Salia Mwungo, Sissala East District Chief Executive, said the 59 per cent registration target achieved was the highest in the region and urged the personnel to work harder to achieve 100 percent coverage next year.

The Manager of the Scheme, Mr. Abubakari Sulemani said government has provided them with means of transport to facilitate the operations of the scheme and called on collectors of the scheme to step up their activities.

He said the scheme was anticipating increasing its premium from the current 72, 000 cedis to 90, 000 cedis next January.