Link your NHIS card to Ghana Card for benefits - Ketu South NHIS

The Ketu South Municipal office of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) has encouraged clients to link their NHIS card to their Ghana Card.

It said there were benefits clients would derive from dialing the short code *929# on any phone and following the prompts to link the two cards.

Mr Bernard Govina, the Municipal Manager who was speaking at a meeting with stakeholders of the scheme at Denu stressed the need for the linkage saying, aside the fact that a time would come when the Ghana Card would become the sole source of identification for persons living in Ghana and for accessing public services, “it saves cost.”

He said linking the cards would spare clients the costs of traveling across Ketu South to the main office at Denu to replace their cards after expiration, payment for the replacement, and waiting for hours to have the card replaced.

“It is in your best interest to link your card to the Ghana Card. Currently, the replacement for the NHIS card when it expires five years after the date of issue is GH¢8.00. Consider the transportation fare from Amedzikope and the hinter areas to our office and you can imagine the cost. Besides, you may come and spend the whole day here waiting just to get your card replaced," Mr Govina said

"As you may be aware, the period of validity for the Ghana Card is ten years and so when you have your NHIS linked to it, you don’t have to come to us again for replacement. You only put the card aside and fall on the Ghana Card if you need to access healthcare across all the credentialed healthcare facilities in Ghana,” he added.

The interactive meeting saw officers of the Municipal Health Insurance Scheme take turns to brief participants on the steps involved in the NHIS linkage, membership renewals, new registrations, and other concerns raised while urging clients who would encounter difficulties during the process of the linkage to visit the office for assistance.

The participants including Assembly members, elders of the community, opinion leaders, and workers from credentialed healthcare facilities were tasked to send the message across and to educate other members of the public so that no one would be left behind in NHIS’ quest to provide affordable healthcare to all residents of Ketu South.