The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is poised to offer special services to all civil and public servants, predominantly Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) contributors.

A statement from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), copied to the Ghana News Agency, said the services would include a special registration exercise on using the Mobile Renewal Service for membership renewal and raising awareness about the NHIS and Ghana cards linkage.

It noted that a team from some selected district offices in the Greater Accra Region would mount a registration booth at the Policy Fair, which is scheduled for August 11, 2021, to perform the special services to increase membership of the Scheme as part of the upcoming Civil Service Week Celebration.

The NHIA entreated non-registered members to take advantage of the upcoming event to join the Scheme’s active membership to access healthcare from over four thousand facilities credentialed under the Scheme.

Ghana, it said, has a target to enrol all residents onto the Scheme by the year 2030 to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of Universal Health Coverage.

The statement said the Ghana card may soon be accepted for healthcare services; hence it was necessary to link the NHIS and Ghana card now, adding that it enabled a convenient means to allow all holders of one card to access healthcare.

It was equally important to link the Ghana card and SSNIT cards to improve the way of doing business with the Trust.

The Authority disclosed that a similar exercise was carried out at the last Civil Service Week celebrations in 2019. Some Ministers, Chief Directors, and staff of the various Ministries, Departments, and agencies joined the Scheme’s active membership.

As a strategic partner, the statement said NHIS staff were at vantage points within the Ministries enclave registering and educating the public on the need to renew their membership annually.

Some of them lauded the Mobile Renewal Service initiative against the backdrop that their busy schedules and the location of NHIS district offices often discouraged them from registering onto the Scheme.

After registering, Mrs Cynthia Mamle Morrison, the former Minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection, said: “Being a member of the NHIS is a civic responsibility for which reason all Ghanaian residents should endeavour to register,” the statement said.