A new, comprehensive online self-enrollment portal designed to make registration onto and renewal of existing members of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) possible has been launched by the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia.
Known as the “MyNHIS app”, the new application includes many user-friendly features, such as enabling persons desirous of enrolling with the NHIS to do so in the comfort of their homes using their mobile phones, instead of having to do so at an NHIS District Office.
It will also enable members of the scheme to renew their membership and that of third parties, access frequently asked questions (FAQs), aid in the location of all NHIS Offices and link NHIS cards to their Ghana cards, according to officials of the National Health Insurance Authority.
Speaking at the launch in Tamale on Monday, Vice President Bawumia said the government, on December 19, 2018, supported the Management of the NHIS to launch a mobile renewal system to enable members whose cards have expired to conveniently renew their cards using mobile phones.
“This digital innovation has led to a remarkable increase in the proportion of members who renew their membership annually, thereby improving population coverage of the scheme.
“At present, over 16 million people are active members of the scheme, representing 54% of the population, an increase from 40% in 2019. Out of this number, over 80% are old members who used the mobile application to renew their membership.
“This has reduced the queue as well as the crowd at the offices of the NHIS, especially at the Tamale NHIS Metro Office where we used to see old men and women, pregnant women, the physically challenged queuing from as early as 3:00 am just to have the cards renewed to access healthcare. Digitalization has made it possible by just dialling *929# and follow the process to instantly renew your card without travelling to the office to queue.”
The MyNHIS app, Dr Bawumia explained, thus serves as an NHIS office in one’s home or pocket.
“The new NHIS mobile app will operate on both Android and iOS smartphones and will allow NHIS members to securely pay registration and membership renewal fees from their mobile money wallets, Bank and Visa cards.
“Embedded in the MyNHIS app is a member authentication feature to enable healthcare providers to validate the membership status of members of the scheme before providing healthcare to them. This feature of the application will also help to reduce spurious claims, ranging from impersonation and claims manufacturing resulting from collusion between NHIS clients and healthcare providers.
“We believe that this milestone will accelerate progress towards our quest to achieve universal health coverage by 2030,” he indicated.
The Chief Executive of the National Health Insurance Authority, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye hailed the impact of digitalization on the Scheme, saying it had impacted every aspect of its operation, from human resources to turn-around times.
“The future indeed remains digitalization,” he declared.
He also announced the inclusion of prostate cancer care on the list of ailments covered under the NHIS, which currently includes 95% of all ailments.
Rex Mainoo Yeboah, ISD
