The Jasikan District Mutual Health Insurance Scheme is fast gaining grounds after battling with few initial hiccups including the delay in issuance of membership cards. The Public Relations Officer of the Scheme, Mr. Seloem Adzorze, attributed the current positive strides to the mass education campaign, and disclosed that a total of 2,713 people had already been registered and issued with identity cards between January and February this year. He said judging by the rush for registration and the premium paid, the district was likely to increase membership to 60 per cent of the total population by the end of this year. Mr Adzorze said communities which are difficult to reach including over bank villages continued to pose a challenge to the success of the Scheme and called on stakeholders to consider the provision of a boat to convey staff to those communities. Mr. Adzorze said from January to October 2006, a total of 11,168 people accessed free healthcare amounting to a total of ¢751 million against ¢265 million premium collected. He stated that claims management support from the NHIS Council last year was ¢967 million for the exempted group, while the Scheme's internally generated fund for January and February this year was ¢66 million. Mr. Adzorze said the Scheme would soon organize workshops for premium collectors to equip them with more strategies to be able to sell the Scheme to the targeted people. Source: GNA