The Sunyani Municipal office of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has engaged pensioners in Sunyani on the NHIS - Ghana card merger.

A successful merger means using the Ghana Card to access health care at any accredited NHIS facility across the country.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the scheme in Sunyani, Rejoice Addae Gyamfi, said the engagement, which took place at the Grace Presbyterian Church, Abesim, aimed at educating the pensioners on the new happenings at the NHIS aside from updating them on the mobile renewal process.

Explaining the NHIS - Ghana card merger process, Addae Gyamfi said it starts by dialling *929# and selecting option 4 to link Ghana card.

Enter the 13 digits ID number without the hyphen and send. Then enter the NHIS number afterwards to merge and wait for a confirmation message.

She, however, said a successful merger will be achieved if only the data, such as names and date of birth on both cards, are the same.

"If your name on the insurance card is a little bit different from what is on the Ghana card, you can't merge. Even a difference of a hyphen will deny you the chance to merge", she said.

The PRO also explained that, for the NHIS to assist in managing such challenges, "Individuals will have to visit our office with their biometric birth certificate and the insurance card to initiate a process to effect change in their personal information. A new card with the changed data will be issued after the rectification is done at the national office".

The engagement also allowed pensioners to ask nagging questions about their services from the accredited NHIS facilities.

An executive member of the Abesim local Pensioners Association, Seth Obeng Asare, said Co-payment remains their major concern.

According to him, they are sometimes made to pay extra money when seeking health care at some accredited facilities.

But, Rejoice Addae Gyamfi assured the senior citizens that the scheme has been working hard to deal with such frustrating issues, insisting they cover about 95% of medical care, though not every treatment is free.

She entreated clients to make good use of the NHIS complaints office, where such issues are investigated and dealt with.

"I encourage our clients, including the pensioners, to demand receipts of payments made for services received from NHIS accredited facilities. The complaints committee will follow it up with clients' help, and if it means we get back your money for you, we will ensure that", she assured them.

When JoyNews visited the Sunyani Municipal Office of the NHIS, only a handful of people were there to either register or renew their membership.

The PRO attributed the situation to their vigorous education via radio discussion, information centres, etc., making it convenient for their clients to renew their mobile phones without visiting their office.

She revealed about 2,098 people renewed their membership via mobile phone in the Sunyani municipality last week, a situation she described as encouraging.

The Abesim local chairman of the pensioners association, Paul Okrah, said the engagement, the second of its kind, was fruitful.

He expressed delight at the mobile renewal, which has cut down the time spent at their officers.