Farmers want NHIS to cover snake and dog bites
Some beneficiaries of the National Health Insurance Scheme(NHIS) have appealed to the management of the scheme and the government to include the treatment of snake and dog bites in the NHIS package.
They made the appeal at separate meetings they had with staff of the NHIS, the Ghana Health Service and some staff of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) on NHIS at Sepeliga, Benaba and Bongo.
The project is dubbed “Increasing Participation, Accountability, Responsiveness and Transparency (PART): Focus on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and other MDG-related interventions in the health sector in Ghana.
It is being implemented by the GII with funding from the Star-Ghana and UNDP in the Upper East, Brong-Ahafo, Volta, Eastern and Central and Western regions.
The beneficiaries said their areas are snake prone and majority of them often got bitten and as the NHIS did not cater for snake bites they were compelled to pay as much as 200 Ghana cedis for anti-snake drugs.
Others also complained about dog bites which the scheme did not cater for and stressed the need for it to be absorbed into the scheme.
They further suggested that in the disbursement of the NHIS funds, it should be given directly to the health facilities instead of paying the money into the office of NHIS for onwards payment to health facilities.
Additionally the beneficiaries complained about the lengthy waiting periods defaulters had to often go through before their NHIS cards are renewed describing it as not the best.
The Senior Programme and Research Officer of GII, Mrs Mary Awelana Addah, said the aim of the project was to improve transparency and accountability in the flow and utilization of NHIS and other related financial resources leading to improved quality health service delivery in 12 health facilities in eight deprived districts in four regions by December 2014.
Mr Akuure Danis , the Scheme Manager of Bawku West District, commended GII for creating a platform for a large number of people to renew their cards and register and said the project when implemented fully would surmount the challenges confronting the scheme.
Source: GNA