The National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) will roll out an electronic renewal of National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) cards nationwide by the end of the year to make for fast, easy and convenient renewal.

The programme, according to the NHIA, had been piloted in Walewale in the West Mamprusi municipality and the Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region.

The piloting of the electronic renewal programme in the two districts has resulted in a tremendous decrease in the number of clients who trooped to the NHIA offices to renew their cards.

NHIS digitisation

The Northern Regional Manager of the NHIA, Mr Issahaque Abdul-Latif, who disclosed this at a mid-year review meeting of the authority in Tamale last Friday, said the authority intended to digitise all its operations to enhance its operations and also reduce the stress subscribers went through with the manual system.

 “I remember on the first day we launched the e-renewal programme in the West Mamprusi municipality, just within six hours over 238 people had renewed their cards. But with the manual system, you cannot renew same number at a go. That tells you that is the way to go and since then it has been very successful,” he stated.

He said the NHIA was also introducing other innovations, such as electronic receipts and claims, which had been piloted in the Bole and the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba districts.

Mid-year review

The meeting brought together all NHIA district directors to, among others, assess the performance for the first six months of the year in the areas of membership registration, revenue mobilisation, among others, in order to identify shortfalls and collectively devise strategies to meet their annual targets.

Mr Abdul-Latif, in a presentation, said the half-year performance was relatively good, explaining that 82 per cent of registration of school pupils was achieved, as well as 57 per cent of the target to register new and old members.

He said the authority could mobilise 75 per cent of the premium target and 64 per cent of processing fees.

Mr Abdul-Latif expressed satisfaction with the success chalked up by the authority in the region and challenged all staff to be creative, innovative and dedicated to their work to enable them to achieve their annual targets.