The Ashanti Regional Coordinating Council (ARCC) is sponsoring 2,000 children less than 18 years to enrol onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
The gesture is in support of the ‘1000k for Health’ project which seeks to court the support of well-meaning Ghanaians to pay and underwrite the NHIS registration fees for at least 1,000 vulnerable children under 18 years living in the Ashanti Regional communities.
The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, said this when the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, paid a courtesy call on him last Monday.
Mr. Osei-Mensah stated that the initiative would help address a major challenge bedevilling access to health care in the region, and the country as a whole.
Dr. Bernard Oko Boye disclosed that the ‘1000k for Health’ project was an initiative to supplement the government’s commitment to enroll vulnerable children, especially children with childhood cancer, onto the NHIS.
He also stated that the NHIA Board of Directors had approved that persons 70 years and above, who had registered with the NHIS, could access health care the same day.
Dr. Oko Boye said the initiative was necessary due to the frustrations that some elderly people experience when attempting to obtain health care.
Thus, the waiting period of 30 days had been waived for subscribers who were 70 years and above, just like pregnant women.
