Some beneficiaries of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) have appealed to management of the scheme and the government to include the treatment of snake and dog bites in the NHIS package.
They made the appeal at separate meetings with staff of the NHIS, the Ghana He9alth Service and staff of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), to discuss the NHIS, at Sepeliga, Benaba and Bongo in the Upper East Region.
The project is dubbed: �Increasing Participation, Accountability, Responsiveness and Transparency (PART)focus on the NHIS and other MDG-related interventions in the health sector in Ghana.�
It is being implemented by the GII with funding from snakes Star-Ghana and UNDP in the Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Volta, Eastern, Central, and Western Region.
The beneficiaries said their areas were snake prone and the majority of them were often bitten by snakes and as the NHIS did not cater for snake bites, they were compelled to pay as mush as GH200 for anti-snake drugs.
Others also complained about dog bites which the scheme did not cater for, and stressed the need for it to be absorbed into the scheme.
They suggested that in the disbursement of the NHIS funds, it should be given directly to the health facilities instead of paying the money into the account of office of NHIS for onward payment to health facilities.
Additionally, the beneficiaries complained about the delay defaulters had to often go through before their NHIS cards were renewed.
The senior Programme and Research officer of GII, Mrs. Mary Awelana Addah, said the project sought to improve transparency and accountability in the flow and utilization of NHIS and other related financial resources to improve quality health care delivery in 12 health facilities in eight deprived districts in four regions, by December 2014.
Mr. Akuure Danis, the Scheme Manager of Bawku West District, commended GII for creating a platform for a large number of people to renew their cards or register, and said the project, when implemented fully, would surmount the challenges confronting the scheme.
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