The Ministry of Gender Children and Social Protection has registered about 1000 aged people onto the National Health Insurance Scheme free of charge at Asawasi in the Asokore-Mampong District of the Ashanti Region.
This is in line with the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) manifesto’s promise to aggressively implement all the social and health interventions targeted at the aged,
The exercised supervised by the sector minister, Nana Oye Lithur witnessed heavy patronage by the aged, most of whom are above 65 years old from Asawasi and its environs, thronged the registration centre to enjoy the free NHIS.
Similar exercises have already being held in the Greater Accra, Volta and Central regions and it was meant to help the aged enjoy improved access to quality health care.
Speaking during the exercise, Nana Oye Lithur, said the programme’s extension to the Ashanti region tied in with the government’s social democratic tenets of making life less stressful for senior citizens in the region and across the nation.
According to the minister, apart from the free NHIS, about 8,628 households in Ashanti are currently on the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme.
She explained that an amount of 522,462 Ghana Cedis is paid to these households during every cycle of payment.
The Ministry, Nana Oye said is undertaking a targeting exercise to select 60,000 more beneficiaries to add up to the current 90,000 beneficiary households, saying 5,656 households in Ashanti will be added to the current number of beneficiaries.
“Indeed, the LEAP programme has impacted positively on beneficiary households. Many more children stay in school, and the local economy of beneficiary communities are improving”, she stressed.
Nana Oye was accompanied by her deputy, John Alexander Ackon; Comfort Asare, Director of Social Development and other officials from the ministry.
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