The Member of Parliament for Abetifi constituency, Dr. Bryan Acheampong has donated to support the construction and completion of the newly built Kwahu East District NHIS office in Abetifi in the Eastern Region.
At the commissioning of the ultra modern fully equipped NHIS district office in the Kwahu East District capital, Abetifi, on Thursday, April 27, 2023, the District Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Isaac Agyapong commended the MP for his tremendous support to humanity and the District in general.
The commissioning forms part of the National Health Insurance Authority’s quest to bring to the doorstep of its services to good citizenry of Ghana.
The Chief Executive Officer for the NHIS, Dr. Bernard Oko Boye, expressed his gratitude to how the facility was fast – tracked to its completion.
“I’m so excited to be here. Some few months ago, we had a meeting at Rock City, all CEOs met with the President and when we came, I was very much interested in my team, seeing how, generally, the scheme was doing and then we visited this particular office. I was so happy that the Kwahu District has built such a nice office for us and yet, we have not yet put it to fully use”.
The CEO added that it is paramount on the NHIS to make sure it works with all the stakeholders, the chiefs, the clergy, medical, NHIS staff to educate Ghanaians on healthy living in order to stay long and healthy.
He said, in the absence of healthy living, it’s a second assignment on the NHIS to make sure medical bills of persons who fall ill are being cared for.
Mr. Oko Boye added that, for the past 20 years since he inception of the National Health Insurance Scheme, millions of Ghanaians have been able to access medical care because of the scheme.
He said, although the NHIS may have not been fully exceptional in its operations, he believes that the majority of the Ghanaian people are enjoying the scheme.
He urged the public to take full advantage of the scheme to access good health care delivery.
“Despite the wonderful sorry that comes with NHIS, when you talk to 100 people who went to hospital to seek medical attention with the NHIS card, 90 will tell you everything is fine, but definitely you’d get five who’d tell you they paid some money, and another five who’d tell you, well I didn’t pay much but they took something from me.
Why am saying this? I want to remind all of us that the scheme is not a perfect one but it’s in our interest to make sure that we register and get the card because no matter what happens in the hospital, you’re way better off being on the scheme than not having the card.
It’s very important, especially for the poor and the vulnerable, that we take steps to make sure that everybody gets the card.
I’m on the scheme, my family is on the scheme, I encourage you to get on the scheme.
The greatest gift Ghana has for every Ghanaian is the National health insurance scheme”, he stated.
The CEO clarified that the scheme does not cover 100%o of all medicines.
He also entreated the general public to get the National Health Insurance App and once a person gets the app, they will be able to download and know all the medicines and services that the NHIS provide assistance to.
He said, almost all the surgical emergencies are covered by the Health Insurance, including Apendisectomy, Ecstopic surgeries, cesarean section and laprostomy.
The District Chief Executive Officer for Kwahu East, Mr. Isaac Agyepong on his part expressed his warmest gratitude to the Member of Parliament Abetifi, Dr. Bryan Acheampong, the Chief Executive Officer and Board Council of the NHIS for such initiative.
Mr. Agyepong called on the CEO, Dr. Oko Boye to consider locals in the area to be the given opportunity to stay at Abetifi and work. He also called on all key stakeholders partners to work closely to make the Kwahu East NHIS one of the best offices in the country.
“Mr. CEO while you’re, after posting the seasoned staff, our locals are capable and able, they have the qualifications so when you contact our MP or myself, we’ll put heads together and then give us local people who can stay here and work and once again, it’s my expectation that all key stakeholders and partners will work together to make the Kwahu East District one of the best NHIS offices in the country.
Before I end, let me say a very big thank you to the Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Mr. Dr. Bryan Acheampong for his contribution towards the completion of this edifice.
As we all know, this facility was constructed by the Assembly some years ago but when its became necessary that we need to have a district office, he volunteered and donated some money to renovate this facility to put it into good use, so we want to use this opportunity and applaud the honorable Member of Parliament for his endless support towards the Assembly”, he stated.
The Constituency Chairman for the New Patriotic Party in Abetifi, Mr. Addo who delivered a speech on behalf of the Member of Parliament for Abetifi, Dr Bryan Acheampong, stated that the District is so much impressed by the work of the NHIS and hope that the District office will be beneficial to its residents.
The MPs address urged the NHIS to include some students of all the eight Senior/Technical schools in the District to be added to the its outreach special operations.
He said, the students forms a large chunk of people who need health care and that, the inclusion of these schools will be very appreciated as they form some benevolent stakeholders group duties to support the district.
The Eastern Regional Operations manager for the NHIS, Harry Thompson Mensah said, it has become very important for the NHIS to expand its operations to ease the stress and pressures civilians go through to process the NHIS card.
” It has become necessary for us to expand our operations because health care is supposed to go to the people not the vice versa.
We realized that people go to the lengthy process before they can access our the NHIS offices but our leaders have come to the realization that it’s important for us to set up offices closer to the people and that’s why we’re continuing to open more NHIS offices across the country”.
He said, it’s the duty of the NHIS to facilitate and address the issues of persons who are seeking medical attention in various hospitals go through with respect to allegations that some hospitals take monies from their clients whiles the NHIS is taking care of those bills.
According to him, the new CEO, Dr. Oko Boye has instituted a new committee called the Co – payment Committee which is mandated to visits hospitals and address complains of persons who go through stress in accessing the NHIS services in hospitals across the country.
The Okwawuman Health Insurance scheme was established on 31st November, 2001, with support from the Danish International Development Agency.
It was later absorbed by the National Health Insurance Scheme in 2003 at Mpraeso and covered residents all three Kwahu Districts, namely Kwahu West, South and East respectively.
After the establishment of the Kwahu West Municipality in 2004 and Kwahu East in 2007, both of which were carved out of Kwahu South.
It became imperative to separate the scheme, as a result, Kwahu West was assigned a District office in Nkawkaw, while other residents of Kwahu East continue to receive health insurance services from the Mpraeso NHIS office.
The National Health Insurance Scheme required a separate district office in the Kwahu East District because the district is very large and disperse with over 100,000 residents.
The establishment of the office in Abetifi will bring the NHIS registration process closer to the constituents, leading to a rise in sign ups.
The District will also now assume full responsibility for the scheme.
The quality of health delivery agenda will advanced in the height with the assistance of a few dedicated and seasoned staff from Mpraeso.
