By Amadu Kamil Sanah, GNA
Nsawam, Oct. 3, GNA - The Divine Group International Foundation (DGIF) in partnership with the Aliu Mahama Foundation (AMF) has facilitated the registration and renewals of the National Health Insurance cards of 1,491 inmates of the Nsawam Prison.
This includes 1,413 males and 78 females in the Nsawam Prison.
The two Foundations, which are both non-profit organisations, are engaged in a project dubbed: “My Health behind Bars" to ensure the registration and renewals of Prison inmates nationwide under the NHIS.
Mr Ebenezer Kofi Adu-Lartey, the Project Coordinator, said the two organisations launched the project on August 29, 2018 at the Nsawam Prison with a free medical screening for inmates.
He said the launch through the medical screening realised that there was the need to do more to improve the health status of inmates in the country’s prisons, hence, the collaboration with the AMF to pursue the project.
Mr Adu-Lartey said the NHIS registration was a follow-up to the medical screening which intends to promote the health status of prison inmates.
He said the registration would be done throughout the nation's 43 prison centres, which has about over 15,000 inmates, adding that the Kumasi Prisons was targeted as the next registration centre.
The Project Coordinator made an appeal to non-profit and benevolent organizations and individuals to join hands in ensuring that the health needs of the country’s prisoners were met.
Dr Lawrence K. Acheampong, the Medical Director in charge of the Nsawam Prison Clinic, said about an average of 100 and as high as 200 inmates visits the clinic daily.
He said the clinic has over the years seen a lot of structural and human resource boost and that had led to its upgrading and accreditation to a B2 status.
Dr Acheapong said the commonest diagnosis among inmates was malaria, and that this had recently led to the mass spraying exercise in the yard which has help in many ways.
“Hyper-respiratory infections and diarrhoea and mental health diagnosis are also common among inmates especially during the raining season”.
He said the Prison clinic started the acceptance of the NHIS services in 2015, adding that there were about 2,619 inmates registered under the NHIS out of a total number of 3,482 inmates.
Dr Acheampong said about 616 inmates cards were expired and due for renewal and that this intervention by the DGIF and AMF together with the NHIS was timely and will help a long way.
He said the clinic provides costless health care services varying from basic health care condition to operative procedures to inmates registered and not registered under NHIS.
“Diagnosis such as Stroke, Ophthalmic, Orthopaedic and Dental service that needs specialist attentions are normally referred to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra and St. James and Nsawam Government Hospital in Koforidua respectively,” he added.
Mr Theophilus Owusu-Ansah, the Eastern Regional Director of the NHIS, said the registration of Prison inmates was under the NHIS indigenes category.
He said the registration under that category was free and that apart from the inmates, people who are classified as not having families and approved by the Department of Social Welfare as such were also registered.
Mr Owusu-Ansah said the NHIS was generally performing well in the region, adding that, the performance was necessitated by the delivery of two new card printers to every district in the region.
“We targeted to register 47 per cent of our population by end of the year and this agenda is rightly on course".
GNA
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