The government’s quest to make the Ghana Card the sole source of identification for persons living in Ghana and for accessing public services has received a major boost following the completion of works to integrate the National Health Insurance Card with the Ghana Card.
By dialing the shortcode *929# and following the prompts, holders of the two cards can now link their National Health Insurance Cards to the Ghana Card and use the Ghana Card to access health care at any accredited National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) facility across the nation.
The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, launched the latest government’s digitisation efforts on Monday, November 9, 2020, at the start of the NHIS Week Celebration in Accra.
“This marks the beginning of a new dawn in the National Health Insurance system. This innovation reaffirms the NPP’s Government’s commitment in our digital journey towards creating the needed ICT infrastructure comparable to any in the developed world,” Dr Bawumia stated.
He said the government’s drive to adopt digital technologies was not only based on the change in the global economy but also the need to tackle the country’s local development challenges.
“Our overarching objectives in this digitisation agenda are to improve both economic and public sector governance, improve transparency and accountability, improve domestic revenue mobilization, curb corruption and increase access to public services,” he emphasised.
The policy direction of the government is to increase technology deepening in addressing Ghana’s development problems as much as possible, Dr Bawumia indicated.
“The scope of digitisation in the health sector is enormous. It ranges from procurement to nationwide drugs inventory management system, patient record management, portability of patients’ records across the country, to health insurance management and billing verification and payments across providers.
“What is key for us today is the leveraging of the Ghana Card to transform our health system. This is a game-changer. All you need is the Ghana Card which has embedded in it all your important personal data. Linked to the Digital Address System and the Birth and Death Registry, we would have built the most comprehensive database of citizens as far as our health demographics are concerned.”
He continued, “With the agenda of GhanaCard being the sole form of identification and access to social services, NHIA has taken the steps in making that happen by linking NHIS membership to the Ghanacard. This fits very well into the inclusiveness agenda of the government to leave no one behind and the NHIS is on this path in its quest to provide affordable healthcare to all residents of Ghana.
Dr. Bawumia also announced that integration between the Ghana Card and the Tax Identification Numbers, SSNIT cards, Passport, DVLA, Bank Accounts and SIM cards would be launched in the early part of 2021 and together with the Universal QR Code for payments, would make Ghana a functional digital economy.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
