The National Association of Pensioners (NPA) of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) on Tuesday called on all pensioners to join the association to enable them benefit from the Pensioners Medical Fund (PMF). Mr. Edward Ameyibor, NPA General Secretary stated that there are over 1.6 million pensioners in Ghana, though not all are under SSNIT. Only 100, 000 of them are part of the NPA and stand to benefit from the medical fund, he added. The General Secretary said that even though membership into the association was voluntarily, it was established to afford pensioners the platform to unite and fight for their common good and wellbeing. “The offices of the association have been set-up in all Regional and Districts Assemblies to enable pensioners, regardless of geographical location, to register with the association and benefit from the fund,” he revealed. Mr Ameyibor gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the official launch of the Medical Fund in Accra. The charity fund instituted by the association to help meet some of the emergency health needs of members, supplement what is being offered under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and also helps with medical issues not covered by the NHIS. Mr. Ameyibor, a former President of the Ghana Journalists Association, explained that the ageing profile of pensioners makes them vulnerable to all kinds of health conditions. He said health related problems of the aged are not covered under the national health policy, as difficulties most pensioners encounter in accessing quality health care precipitated the need for a self-help effort by pensioners in the association. He said after a careful consideration by the association at its quadrennial congress in Kumasi last year, it resolved to establish a charity fund known as the PMF to assist its members. Mr Ameyibor said all members would be levied an agreed amount monthly to be deducted by SSNIT and paid into the PMF account. He said members of the association stand to benefit from the fund starting from next year, explaining that this was because the fund had been given a gestational period of one year to allow it to grow. “The fund will be insured against depreciation and lost,” he added. Mr. Ameyibor also appealed to benevolent individuals and institutions to support the fund and encouraged all young Ghanaians to take interest in it because they “would also become pensioners one day and would benefit from the fund if they help to sustain it”.