The Tema Metropolitan Assembly (TMA) in collaboration with the Tema Health Directorate (THD) and the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is registering 1,000 children under 18 years of age onto the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) at Tema Manhean.
All the 1,000 children would be registered or have their old NHIS cards renewed in the newly introduced biometric cards, which takes an average of eight minutes to complete for each person.
The programme, which started on Tuesday, also provided free health screening for residents with diseases such as eye, ear, throat, blood pressure and dental related problems to the Tema Manhean residents who thronged the venue for the exercise in their numbers.
Briefing the press, Mr. Isaac Ashai Odamtten, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive told news men that it is a comprehensive exercise because the Assembly has not just done NHIS education and registration, but it has gone beyond that by bringing health personnel to help identify health challenges within the community.
“Indeed we are undertaking an eye screening exercise, and I can confirm that already about 100 children have been screened so far”, he explained.
The medical team, after the Tuesday programme moved from school to school to ensure that they are able to register the 1,000 target they have set for themselves.
Hon Odamtten appealed to parents within the Metropolis to endeavour to seek medical attention from time to time to check their medical status.
According to him the exercise was meant to comprehensively address the health challenges of the people within the community and that “the NHIA has been very supportive by providing the biometric registration tools for us so that we have a biometric card issued instantly after registration”.
He explained that it was important to go with the biometric method within the health delivery system rather than the manual system, which has its own attendant problems.
“What we want to avoid is the issue of duplication of cards and other challenges that have surrounded the scheme, that is, to encourage the biometric registration process”, he noted. Meanwhile, the free medical screening revealed that most of the children in the community have medical problems, but without such a platform, it is difficult for them to have solutions to the problems.