The Mfantseman District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme now has 21 service providers after signing contracts with 12 new providers and renewing the contracts of the existing nine. The service providers include government and private health facilities, pharmacy and chemical stores. The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Scheme, Mr. Frank Neequaye has appealed to the service providers to strive to improve upon their services. "Reports from our clients indicated that some of your people were doing well while others need to improve upon their services, especially their interactions with the clients," Mr. Neequaye stated at a brief ceremony to renew the existing contracts. Nana Ataapim Kweenu VIII, Presiding Member of the District Assembly and Vice Chairman of the Board, said it had come to the Board’s notice that some service providers were presenting inflated bills for payment and cautioned them against the practice, which he said amounted to stealing. Nana Kweenu appealed to the service providers to write clearly since some people found it difficult to decipher their handwriting. Mr. Godfred Gyebi-Arthur, the Scheme Manager said 45,381 people out of the population of 152,000 in the District had registered and added that 850,718,947 cedis had been paid as claims for 7,816 clients as at November 30, 2006, which represented 110,000 cedis per client. Source: GNA