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The National Health Insurance Authority is to focus on improving the access of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to the deprived in the Eastern Region during the second part of this year.

The target of the scheme during the second part of this year is to get more people with disability, paupers and the disadvantaged to enroll unto the scheme to enable them to get access to quality health care.

This was disclosed by the Eastern Regional Director of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Mr Theophilus Owusu- Ansah, at a media briefing in Koforidua.

He appealed to the media to help encourage associations and organizations that work with people with disabilities to get in touch with the offices of the Authority in the region to register and enroll their members unto the scheme.

Mr Owusu-Ansah said his office also plans to move the registration equipment’s to the Senior High Schools to make it easy for students to register and renew their registration.

He said the introduction of electronic or mobile renewal of registration of members of the scheme had helped to clear the large number of people that were previously seen at the offices of the authority in the region.

Under the scheme, members could use their mobile phones to renew their registration and would not need to be present at the offices of the authority.

He said one of the major challenges that the scheme had in the early part of the year was the registration of pregnant women because they had to be seen physically.

This was because pregnant women are entitled to a special package under the scheme.

Mr Owusu-Ansah said the scheme had been able to pay health facilities that provide services to their members up to September last year, adding that, currently, efforts are being made to pay the debts of the scheme to the facilities.

Mr Owusu-Ansah explained that health facilities that had not received their payments up to September last year had challenges with the bills that they submitted, which are being solved.

However, he said, some maternity homes and CHPS compounds had been paid beyond September last year.

Mr Owusu-Ansah advised clients of the scheme, who had challenges when they go to the service providers, to report to the authorities for support and resolution.