Members of the National Health Insurance Scheme will by the end of the year have the opportunity to renew their membership electronically using the mobile phone. This was disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer of the Authority Dr. Samuel Annor when he paid a working visit to the Ayawaso District office of the Authority.

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About 400 members of the NHIS throng the district office on daily basis to either register or renew their membership. The numbers however have been inundating. This according to the NHIA boss necessitated the introduction of the electronic renewal. It is expected to relieve members of the long hours they spend at the district offices to have their cards renewed. An electronic renewal system is currently being piloted in the Asuogyaman and West Mamprusi Districts and its expected to be rolled out by the end of the year. The process requires a mobile application to generate a code and payments are done via mobile money.

We had the option to either expand the number of offices we have or usetechnology to solve the problem; we opted for technology to solve the problemafter looking at the cost implication. The e-renewal project which would belaunched in the middle of December has already been piloted in two regions, andworking effectively

Dr. Annor also revealed that to streamline fees charged NHIS members at the primary healthcare facilities across the country, a restricted universal healthcare will be rolled out by the Authority to curb unplanned cost incurred while accessing healthcare.

He further  assured that his outfit willensure  issues of unauthorized charges at NHIS healthfacilities are stalled. He stressed that no facility was to charge anyNHIS  member fees for service delivery at the primary healthcare facilitynationwide.

SOURCE: NHIS GHANA

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