The Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who is nicknamed ‘Mr. Digital’ because of his continuous digitization efforts, has launched an online registration platform dubbed, ‘My NHIS App’ for the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA).
The Vice President at the launch, hailed the app, explaining that it is a convenient mobile App solution inaugurated to enable residents in Ghana and beyond to use their Ghana cards and sign up for the NHIS at their own convenience.
Similar to the NHIS Mobile Renewal platform, people can comfortably sit anywhere and use any mobile phone to sign up for the NHIS.
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia in his opening remarks recalled the NHIS journey and stated that the NHIS since its introduction, has no doubt, contributed to increased utilization of healthcare services, leading to improved health outcomes of the population.
“There have been significant reductions in maternal and child mortalities over the last two decades. Persons who hitherto could not access healthcare due to financial constraints are now able to do so without paying at the point of service use.”
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The Vice President touched on the government’s digitalization agenda saying, “We are pursuing digitalization, not for its own sake, but as a means of delivering improved services to our people. We are putting in place systems and utilizing the data to make this possible”.
“The role of digital health solutions in our healthcare sector cannot be overemphasized. Over the last few years, we have embarked on a digitalization drive in the health sector as a response to the World Health Organization (WHO) calls for member countries to implement digital health interventions in their health systems to improve access to healthcare and well-being for their populations.”
Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia
The Vice President posited that the NHIS persisted as the economic mainstay of most public and private healthcare service providers in Ghana. “The NHIS has contributed to financial resources of healthcare providers, resulting in expansion of healthcare facilities, especially in the private sector”.
Dr. Bawumia emphasized the need for the Scheme’s existing and would-be members to link the NHIS and Ghana cards to use one card to access healthcare services.
“When all members of the Scheme are linked to their Ghana Cards, the NHIS card will be phased out and the Ghana Card will be the sole card for accessing healthcare services in the credentialed healthcare facilities. We are very keen on making sure we can improve access to quality healthcare delivery. Digitalization of our hospitals and medical records at public health facilities is on course. This has improved efficiency, effectiveness and increased access to healthcare to those who need the services.”
NHIA Chief Executive Pays Tribute to Kufuor
Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, NHIA Chief Executive, in his welcome address paid tribute to former President, John Agyekum Kufuor for introducing the NHIS in 2003.
“19 years ago, under the visionary leadership of H.E John Agyekum Kufuor, Ghana set out on a mission to provide financial risk protection for its citizens and to reduce the dangers of resting access to healthcare on the shoulders of the cash and carry system.”
Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye
To this effect, Dr. Boye noted that digitization has played a major role in positively impacting on the operationalization of the Scheme and the numbers enrolled in the National Health Insurance Scheme database.
“The digitization journey at the National Health Insurance Authority has been a steady phenomenal process, especially these past few years when it feeds into a bigger government agenda heavily superintended by the Digitization Messiah himself, H.E Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.”
Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye
MyNHIS App Benefits
MyNHIS mobile App will enable corporate clients and other citizens to use their Ghana Cards to register for the NHIS without necessarily visiting any of the NHIA district offices for the same service.
The new App will also enable NHIS members to securely pay registration and membership renewal fees from their mobile money wallets, Bank and Visa cards. The latest NHIA novelty will operate on both Android and iOS smartphones. The NHIS Mobile Application App will issue digitized NHIS cards and provide a mechanism for the NHIA to fulfill its statutory obligations.
Most importantly, the innovation will deliver a vastly improved renewal experience to NHIS members as it saves time and money, thereby making the Scheme much more accessible to all residents in Ghana and beyond.
It is of utmost importance that Ghanaians home and abroad will take advantage of the newly introduced MyNHIS App to save time, and expenses, increase higher levels of convenience, eliminate data entry errors, and improve efficiency.
The NHIA is leveraging on the national digitalization drive to shift from a paper to a paperless regime. The Authority is continuously building robust home-grown innovations geared towards saving income and improving efficiency.
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